See sickening moment Uber Eats driver hit across head with bolt cutters as attackers try to take her moped as she leaves McDonald's

Liam Solomon and his accomplice "lay in wait" for their victim to leave the fast food restaurant in South Shields before they pounced.

Shocking CCTV footage show the attackers approach the victim from two directions in a bid to get hold of her bike and she is repeatedly struck with the weapon when she refuses to let it go.

Fortunately, the victim's head was protected by the crash helmet she was wearing but she suffered a cut to her finger and her bike, which she managed to hold on to after a passer-by scared the attackers away, was damaged.

Newcastle Crown Court heard she has been left anxious about continuing in her delivery work because of what happened.

Prosecutor Omar Ahmad told the court the victim had gone into McDonald’s in King Street in the town on March 22 and left her bike outside.

Mr Ahmad said: "She left and the defendant was seen to follow her.

"She returned to her scooter and pushed it up the street.

"The defendant and the other male walked away and he is seen to change his top.

"The two males then run back up the street in her direction, while she is pushing the scooter and apprehend her from separate directions.

"The defendant grabbed the scooter and was attempting to pull it away from her and a struggle ensued between them.

"The other male, with bolt croppers, began striking her to the head. Thankfully she was wearing a crash helmet at the time.

"She lifted her hands to protect herself and this caused her a one inch laceration to her finger."

The court heard Solomon managed to get on the moped but a witness then approached and was shouting, which caused him and and his accomplice to run off and leave the bike behind.

Mr Ahmad said Solomon changed his clothes again before he got on the Metro at South Shields station.

He was arrested a few days later, while his armed accomplice was never caught.

Solomon, 19, of Kesteven Square, Sunderland, admitted assault with intent to rob.

The court heard he has 60 previous convictions and had been given a suspended sentence for theft, shoplifting and possessing cannabis just one day earlier.

He also admitted stealing a £3,000 motorbike and two mountain bikes from a yard in Sunderland in the same month.

Judge Robert Spragg sentenced him to three years and ten months behind bars.

The judge told him: "A food delivery driver on a moped was targeted by you and an accomplice. You lay in wait for her, you changed your top to a darker one to make yourself less visible and you grabbed the scooter and pulled it away from her.

"A struggle took place and your accomplice struck her with a pair of bolt cutters on the head. Fortunately she had a helmet on but she lifted her hands to protect herself and sustained a laceration."

Jamie Adams, defending, said Solomon's life was disrupted by the death of his father, which he still struggles to cope with, but he has made good progress inprison on remand.