A THUG threatened to stab a 51-year-old woman if she didn’t hand over her bag.

The robbery happened in Tyler Avenue, Laindon, at 10.55pm on Monday – one of two knifepoint robberies reported in the Basildon area this week.

The victim was walking along the street when a man on a bike approached and threatened to stab her unless she handed over her bag. She gave him the shoulder bag, which contained an “oldstyle”

Nokia mobile phone and her purse, with a total of £85.

The robber was a slim, white man, in his twenties, who was about 5ft 6ins tall and wearing a dark-coloured hooded top.

A second knifepoint robbery saw an 18-year-old man robbed of his bicycle by two youths on a silver moped.

The pair pulled up next to the victim as he walked along Vermont Close, Pitsea, at 5.45pm on November 8.

The pillion passenger jumped off and threatened the victim with a knife.

He then pushed the victim against a wall and stole the teenager’s £400 Cube bike.

The knife used in the bike robbery had a four-inch silvercoloured blade and a black handle. The moped driver was aged between 16 and 19 and was wearing dark clothes.

The other attacker was about the same age, 5ft 9ins tall, slim, and had his face covered with a white scarf.

Detectives are not linking the two robberies.

Anyone with information about either is asked to