A mugger who admitted stealing a man's bag in a terrifying attack has been spared jail despite the Lord Chancellor's hardline stance on street robberies.

Keith Hudson, 23, of Southchurch Road, Southend, is to be assessed for a community rehabilitation order rather than go to prison.

Hudson pleaded guilty to snatching Joseph Levison's bag during an incident in Stoke Newington, north London, on January 6 this year.

At London's Southwark Crown Court, Judge Christopher Elwen said: "This is the sort of offence for which the Lord Chief Justice has recently said everybody should go straight to jail for without passing Go."

But while acknowledging "generally, street robbers face custodial sentences", the judge said he was prepared to take a "most exceptional course for an offence of this nature".

Published Wednesday, March 13, 2002