The suspect was arrested by police in Stockholm last month after security cameras captured the moment when the mother, accompanied by two young children, tried to stop a man from pickpocketing in one of the capital's tourist hotspots.

On Monday, Swedish media reported that he had been formally charged.

In the video, first shared by Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, a man was seen approaching a pensioner just after she rummaged in an open bag and started using her mobile phone, while she was walking up a flight of stairs at the Gamla Stan (Old Town) metro station in central Stockholm.

The younger woman was concerned about his behaviour and approached him, but he then turned on her, pushing her in the face, before spitting at her.

Police tracked down the suspect in January after the footage went viral in Sweden and even grabbed global headlines.

“I have worked as a police officer for over 40 years, this is among the worst things I have seen,” Stefan Tellqvist, a police officer working on the case, told Aftonbladet just ahead of the man's arrest in the north of the city.

“I will get him, if it's the last thing I do,” he added.

It was not immediately clear when the suspect's trial would get under way.