A BAG snatcher was caught and jailed after his female victim chased him down in a taxi.

Stuart Scrase attempted to grab Jodie Taylor's handbag as she walked past McDonald's on Oxford Road with a female friend.

After a brief struggle Scrase reached for his inside pocket, leading the 18 year-old victim to believe he had a gun.

As the Wendley Road resident fled the two women made after him in a taxi, causing the thief to dump the handbag on Southcote Road.

“On May 30 at about 11.50am the victim was walking along the road towards Reading with her friend,” prosecuting lawyer Jonathan Sank told Reading Crown Court on January 12.

“He got closer and closer and grabbed hold of the victim's handbag which she had wedged between her left arm and body.

“She wouldn't let go and there was a short struggle. The defendant put his hand into his jacket pocket to give the impression it was a weapon. She let go and he ran.”

Miss Taylor hailed a taxi driver who approached Scrase but backed off because he thought the 19 year-old had a knife.

In fact the former McDonald's worker had no weapon, instead brandishing his phone in a purposefully threatening manner.

He was arrested on August 9 having stolen the mobile phone from the woman's bag, which was covered in finger prints that led police to Scrase.

Christopher Blake, defence, said Scrase, who was put into foster care at 15, had been driven to crime by his desperate situation.

Despite failing to make any commission at his sales job with Zenith double glazing, Scrase couldn't quit to go on benefits due to employment laws.

“He realised he couldn't feed himself,” explained Mr Blake.

“It was an opportunistic bag snatch. He is a man that is not yet twenty. He was on his own without guidance for far too long. He makes up to forty job applications a week.

“He is a man who has had very few chances and little support.”

The court also heard how much the attack impacted the victim.

“I have been too afraid to go out on my own,” Miss Taylor said.

“It has caused me a lot of stress. On bad days I am too scared to be in the house on my own.”

Mr Recorder Christopher Quinlan QC sentenced Stuart Scrase to two years and six months in a young offenders' institute.