A BICYCLE-riding robber who snatched a bag from a woman carrying her father’s ashes has been jailed for 18 months.

Darren Dudley, aged 28, of Braceby Avenue, Billesley, rode past Clare Hewitt, a nursery manager for Birmingham City Council, as she stood at a bus stop in Woodthorpe Road, Kings Heath, on September 3 last year.

After riding past, he turned around and grabbed her bag containing Mrs Hewitt’s bank card, purse, cash, keys and some of the ashes of her late father who died suddenly after massive heart attack.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that, after a struggle, Dudley ripped the bag from her grasp and rode off.

He was pursued by a motorist, who lost sight of him.

Judge Robert Juckes QC told him: “The bag was not of huge vale but it contained her father’s ashes which were of enormous value to her.