A 19-year-old woman was seriously ill in hospital yesterday after being shot in the head at close range in London by a mugger who had stolen her mobile phone.
The woman, who was shot after a brief struggle with her attacker, managed to stagger a few metres to a friend's homein Walthamstow, east London, despite having a fractured skull.
She was conscious when she was taken to hospital and told police she remembered only a "bang and then a pain in her head".
Police said the woman was shot after the thief had taken her phone and described the shooting as an act of cold-blooded violence committed out of malice.
Mobile phone snatches are an increasing problem for police in London and account for more than a third of all robberies dealt with by Scotland Yard.
