A former The X Factor contestant from Blackburn has criticised a phone network after being mugged.

Diana, who currently lives in London, said her phone was stolen in a mugging which took place last Thursday (January 6).

The former Westholme School pupil, who appeared on The X Factor in 2008, has taken to Twitter to speak about her experience and called out EE for making the experience even “more stressful”.

She added that the phone network has “made being a woman that bit harder”.

Posting to social media, she wrote: “[On 6 January] I was mugged in London.

“Being a young woman without a phone in London is extremely unsafe.

“At first I didn’t have a phone because I was mugged and now I don’t because of

@EE errors.

“You’ve made being a woman that bit harder today.”

The singer and actress, who recently starred in a theatre tour of Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, added that “dealing with EE has been more stressful than actually being mugged.”

Many of Diana’s fans responded to her tweet, asking if she was safe and well.

One person wrote: “Hope you're okay what an awful thing to happen to you.

“Hopefully you're safe and well, phones can be replaced but you cannot.”

Robin said: “Hoping you yourself are unscathed. These things affect us mentally and physically.”

“I hope EE helps you as they rightly should,” said another.

Responding to her Tweet, a spokesperson for EE wrote: “Diana. I'm so sorry to hear this happened to you.

“Can you please DM me the phone number of the phone in question, as well as your contact details, so that I can look into this as a priority, and help put it right?”

An EE spokesperson said: “We hope Diana is ok after what happened and we’re sorry for the poor experience she had. She has confirmed that everything has now been resolved and we’ve provided a gesture of goodwill on her account.”