A TRANENT mugger who was caught after police traced a signal to her home from the phone she had just stolen has been jailed.

Amanda Bain attacked Ashley Grant on the town’s Lindores Drive by punching her to the head and then making off with the woman’s mobile phone and a pack of cigarettes.

Bain, of Northfield, approached her victim in the early hours of October 9 last year by asking her for change, but then proceeded to attempt to grab Ms Grant’s purse.

A struggle broke out between the two women and Ms Grant had her jumper pulled over head before being punched by Bain.

As she lay on the ground, an unknown male then rifled through the woman’s pockets and the pair of muggers soon ran off.

But after Bain made her way to a friend’s home following the attack at about 1.50am, Ms Grant contacted the police, who used a phone app called ‘Find my iPhone’.

Police officers then trailed the signal to Bain’s address at the town’s Northfield.

READ MORE: iPhone app on stolen phone leads police to mugger

Once inside the property, officers rang Ms Grant’s mobile number and heard the stolen phone vibrating under a mattress.

Bain immediately told officers: “It wasn’t Frank, it was me.”

That comment was in relation to co-accused Francis McMillan, 30, who had his not guilty pleas to the attack accepted by the Crown.

Fiscal depute Kim Schofield had told the court: “Ashley Grant was walking home at 1.50am at Lindores Drive and was approached by a male and a female.

“The female, Amanda Bain, asked her for change and attempted to snatch the purse from her.

“A struggle ensued between the accused and the complainer where the complainer’s jumper was pulled over her head.

“Throughout she was shouting and screaming for help.

“She was punched to the face by the accused, who took hold of her hair and attempted to pull her to the ground.

“She was then held down on the ground by the accused as a male searched through her pockets.”

Angela Craig, defending, told the court her 37-year-old client had “a long-standing heroin addiction” and had been “in the throes of addiction when she committed this horrible offence”.

Bain admitted the assault at a hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier this month and was back in the dock for sentencing last Friday.

Sheriff Thomas Welsh jailed Bain for 16 months, which was backdated to October 10, 2016.

A not guilty plea to a second allegation of assaulting and robbing Danielle Stafford between High Street and Lindores Drive, Tranent, on the same date was previously accepted by the Crown.