A FAMILY has called on the community to help catch a knife-wielding mugger who said he would kill a teenage girl if she went to the police.

The 17-year-old was walking through Higham Hill Park in Walthamstow at around 11am when a youth approached her and pulled out a kitchen blade.

She agreed to hand over her white HTC mobile phone but he then threatened to murder her if she contacted police.

Her mother, Clare Grego, 38, said: "I'm upset and really angry. I know kids get mugged every day but to hold a knife up to a young girl and say things like that makes it even worse.

"But I'm proud of my daughter. She said she was glad it wasn't a child or an older person, and I'm glad she's like that and not a coward like him.”

Her daughter Dani said: "I was just coming back from my friend's house when he came up to me, pushed me onto a fence and held up the knife.

"He asked for my bag and looked through it while I stood there. I was petrified. I did what he asked because I didn't want to get stabbed. He after he took the phone he said: 'if you tell the police or move I'm going to kill you'.

"I was really, really scared."

Eventually the man made off and Dani was able to escape.

She added: "I feel like part of my freedom has been taken away now. I'm frightened to go back in the park on my own. I want him to be caught to feel safe again."

Father John Grego, 44, went past the park the next day when he saw a youth matching the mugger's description approaching another girl.

He said: "He saw me coming up to him and backed off and tried walk away through the park. I tried to follow him but he got away.

"I'm just worried about how many other people he could do this to."

The suspect is described as mixed race and aged in his early to mid 20s. He is about five foot eleven of medium build and has a thin beard that goes from ear to ear, with black moles around his eyes.

He was wearing a dark navy hunting cap, a white top, grey jogging bottoms and a long black scarf.

It happened on Tuesday August 23.

Anyone with information is urged to call police on 101.

No arrests have been made. The Guardian is awaiting further information from police.

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