After a long day on her feet at work, Hansel Andrayas was looking forward to going home. It was dusk and shopkeepers in the seaside town of Leigh-on-Sea were pulling down their shutters as the 48-year-old started to walk the short distance to her car, carrying the handmade red leather handbag that her daughter had given her.

Along with the usual paraphernalia — perfume, make-up, a hairbrush — the bag contained treasured photographs of her three children and two grandchildren. There was also £500 in cash that she had intended to take to the bank at lunchtime to pay her mortgage, but she had run out of time.

Seconds later, as she was momentarily distracted by a mobile phone call from a distressed friend, two muggers on a moped seized their opportunity — mounting the pavement and making a grab for her handbag.

Drive-by: The Vespa moped swerves across the road as the riders approach the man walking with his mobile

Instinct kicked in and Hansel held on. She was dragged across the pavement, leaving her with a cut and bruised face, and her right arm — already weak from a road accident injury — became entangled in the bag's strap. Tendons and nerves tore as the attacker, hidden behind a helmet, continued to pull until he prised the bag from her.

Such a brutal and opportunistic attack has left the shop assistant with life-altering injuries. She is blighted by severe pain in her arm, and is afraid to leave the house. Her self-esteem is in shreds and she is suffering from depression.

'I remember the pain and feeling so violated and shocked, feeling the blood pour down my face, thinking how it was dripping onto my uniform,' recalls Hansel. 'What happened has made me a shell of the woman I was. I feel scared all the time.'

Yet what happened here in Essex is not an isolated incident but part of a country-wide crime wave that is spiralling out of control. Muggers on mopeds — some as young as 12 and often armed with weapons such as knives and hammers — are carrying out soaring numbers of 'snatch-and-grab' ride-by robberies.

In London, these are now an everyday occurrence, with figures showing a 1,150 per cent increase, from 372 in 2011 to 4,637 in the past 12 months alone. And the true figure is likely to be far higher, as many victims do not bother to report the crime.

Just last week, footage emerged of two men on a scooter brazenly mounting the pavement in daylight to swipe a phone out of a man's hand in Muswell Hill, North London.

And one teenage moped gang last year was jailed for committing 46 offences in 11 days, targeting women — including one who was heavily pregnant — and punching a number of victims in the face.

These robberies disproportionately affect women as they tend to keep valuables in one place — their handbags. And they're becoming a growing concern for the entire country.

Approach: At the last moment, one of the scooter riders surprises the man by reaching out with his arm

In April in Harlow, Essex, an 84-year-old woman was pushed to the ground and robbed by two teenagers on a moped who stole her bag. She suffered multiple injuries to her wrist, face, hands and body.

In Manchester, a woman in her 70s was punched in the face and thrown to the pavement in May by two men on a moped who stole her handbag and gold bracelets. A few days later, two women and a young boy were attacked in a similar way, but this time one of the men used pliers to try to cut bangles off his victim's wrist before being thwarted by a brave passer-by.

In Newcastle, police are hunting for two moped-riding robbers who stole from their victims at knifepoint in a spate of attacks in October last year, and in Sunderland, a 60-year-old charity worker was sprayed in the face with a 'noxious liquid' in November 2014 by two moped-riding robbers as they stole £700 raised by the Age UK charity which he was taking to the bank.

Last July, in the small West Midlands town of Cradley Heath, a 59-year-old woman's handbag, containing a lock of hair from her recently deceased mother, was snatched.

So what has triggered such a rise in this appalling crime, and why do criminals feel free to act so brazenly and with impunity? And why isn't more being done to prevent Britain turning into a country where it is no longer safe to walk the streets without fear of being mugged every time you use your mobile phone?

Ever since the advent of expensive smartphones, muggings have been on the rise. With a typical iPhone worth around £500, it is easy money. A stolen handset can fetch around £150 on the black market, with most being sold to criminal gangs who transport them to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa.

Even more worryingly, a new iPhone packed with personal information that could be used for identity theft, such as passwords and payment details, can be worth up to £1,000.

Strike: The rider on the scooter, which has no number plate on the back, tries to grab the man's smartphone

And for criminals intent on getting their hands on our valuables, mopeds are one of the easiest ways to escape without being caught.

They are quick, relatively straightforward to steal (most vehicles used in muggings are stolen ones) and can go where cars cannot. Indeed, Scotland Yard reported a 31 per cent rise in the theft of mopeds and bikes in London last year — to around 30 a day.

However, there is an even more disturbing reason why the problem has reached pandemic proportions: police are simply no longer prepared to pursue attackers on mopeds.

In 2014, teenager Henry Hicks died while being chased by police on his moped in Islington, North London. The 18-year-old, who was carrying multiple mobile phones and seven bags of skunk cannabis, careered away from police in a high-speed chase before crashing at a junction. Hicks had been stopped and searched at least 71 times between 2011 and 2014. The officers involved in the chase are now facing a disciplinary procedure.

As a result, police are now too fearful to give pursuit of anyone on a moped — and criminals know this only too well. A senior police source has confirmed this to the Mail, even though police are reluctant to comment officially. Victims have also provided anecdotal evidence of being told by officers that 'health and safety fears' mean they are not allowed to follow muggers.

Reports that officers were no longer chasing gangs on mopeds first started to emerge last year in the aftermath of Henry's death.

But the stance has become even more entrenched since it was announced last month that the four officers involved will face gross misconduct hearings. As one police officer explains: 'Those who chased Henry Hicks are facing disciplinary action and dismissal. No one wants to risk this happening to them so we are no longer following people fleeing on mopeds or motorbikes.'

Last year, police were told not chase if a rider wasn't wearing a helmet. They were asked to weigh up the seriousness of the crime or decide if there was a threat to life.

Failure: The moped rider is unable to take hold of the smartphone, with the mobile instead falling to the floor

Since Henry's death, moped-enabled muggings, committed largely by offenders aged 13-25, have rocketed, quadrupling in the past year alone — from 1,074 to 4,637 — as criminals feel they can pounce without recrimination.

Lawyer Jessica Learmond-Criqui is chair of the safer neighbourhood panel for her home in affluent Hampstead, North London, which has seen a spate of 'pitiless and ultra-violent' robberies and muggings.

'Following the death of Henry Hicks, it became widely known in the criminal fraternity that police will no longer give chase,' she says. 'Moped-enabled crime is highly organised and often well choreographed in that they will go out in convoy, looking out for each other. It is on the increase, and is turning into a problem for the whole country.'

For Hansel, a British-born single mother of Turkish-Cypriot descent, the aftermath of the attack in October has been deep and far-reaching.

'I have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, I can't sleep and I have panic attacks. I feel like I can't face anybody. It doesn't help that I feel like the police didn't take it seriously. No one came to take my statement for a week.'

Others to have fallen prey to this crime include philosophy teacher and author Tricia Voute, 50. In May last year, ride-by thieves mounted the pavement as she sat typing at a cafe in Highgate, North London, stealing a laptop and memory stick containing the only copy of her 110,000-page second novel. 'It was four years' worth of work that I lost in an instant. I've not been able to face trying to re-write it,' she says.

'It was such a brazen thing when the motorcycle mounted the pavement. There were two people on it and the man at the back casually leaned down and swiped it. I ran after them screaming like a mad woman, but it was no use.'

Like Tricia, TV producer Charlie Brades, 30, was targeted in broad daylight by thieves who again rode on to the pavement in Hackney, East London.

'I was walking to work at 9am while texting my friend when a couple of guys on a moped mounted the kerb,' she says. 'They wore helmets with dark visors. They had gloves on and were in full leathers. Suddenly, this gloved hand reached out and snatched my phone. I stood there and screamed. I was in shock.'

Charlie's Samsung Galaxy smartphone was taken, along with the case she carried it in, which contained her bank cards and house keys — keys that she had to pay her landlord £200 to replace.

'It really shook me up,' says Charlie. 'It was 9am. You don't expect to be mugged at that time of day.

'I wasn't physically hurt but it left me in bed for days with stomach pains. I think it was the shock and stress.

'The police came quickly but the officer told me they weren't allowed to chase muggers on mopeds anymore. It has made me scared ever to use my phone in public again.'

High-profile victims include children's food writer Annabel Karmel, 59, who was mugged in broad daylight in 2014 by moped robbers who ripped a £12,000 gold Rolex from her wrist in Hampstead, North London.

With the exception of the Metropolitan Police, forces around the country unanimously said they were unable to provide accurate figures for offences of this nature as crime is not generally categorised in terms of whether a moped or bike was involved.

As the Vespa drove away, another pair were also spotted on a scooter (circled), apparently keeping look-out

However, substantial anecdotal evidence — along with information from local newspapers and social media — shows there to be a growing problem affecting the whole country.

So bad are things in London, particularly in the northern boroughs of Camden and Islington, that the use of drones is even being considered to track offenders.

Meanwhile, the police advise that if you have to use a mobile phone in public, do so discreetly with your back to the wall to prevent someone coming up behind you.

They also warn never to text while walking, make sure your phone is insured and has all of its security features enabled, and always try to be aware of your surroundings.

For Jessica Learmond-Criqui, who speaks to new robbery victims every day, a lot more needs to be done.

'There is supposed to be a basic contract in the UK between citizen and state,' she says.

'We pay our taxes and the state keeps us safe. This contract is not being fulfilled.

'Our communities are living in fear. At the end of the day, why shouldn't you feel safe to send a text message on your phone, to have an expensive handbag on your arm or a Rolex on your wrist? You should not have to feel worried or conscious about these things.