A VIOLENT woman mugger who tried to choke two victims in a bid to get their valuables has walked free from court today.

Holly Baxter, 19, of Burnt Oak Broadway, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and one of attempted robbery at Wood Green Crown Court last month.

However, today she was given a nine-month sentence suspended for two years as well as an 18-month supervision order and told to complete six months of drug rehabilitation treatment.

She targeted two victims in Watling Avenue just after midnight on October 2.

First she approached a 34-year-old man coming out of a fast food restaurant and asked if he had any money for her.

He said he laughed, but she knocked the food out of his hand and said “do you want to get knifed?” before attempting to get him in a headlock which he managed to fight off.

Ten minutes later Baxter spotted a 24-year-old woman from whom she again demanded money, telling her she had a knife before getting her in a choke hold and punching her.

Scared she would black out the victim handed over her iPhone and 25p, but Baxter then forced her to walk with her. As they passed a chicken shop she pulled away and ran inside while Baxter kept walking.

In the shop she noticed blood from Baxter on her clothes and DNA analysis of this alongside additional research which involved downloading images of clothing from the internet similar to what the attacker had been wearing, which led to the arrest.

Detective Constable Michael Paton of Barnet CID said: “Members of the public really contributed to solving these horrible crimes. The first victim had managed to fight off Baxter and then promptly call police.

“The second victim was able to give a very detailed description and actually researched the internet to find clothes similar to the ones the suspect was wearing. She then sent police the images - she was both brave and resourceful.

“Her work meant we had overwhelming evidence which encouraged Baxter to plead guilty. The professionalism of the first officers on the scene ensured that all forensic evidence was seized and it was through DNA recovered that we first traced Baxter.”