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An Australian model is begging London to sort out the spate of phone snatching after she had her mobile stolen twice in three months.
Footage shows Emma Van Der Hoek getting her phone wrestled off her by a man in a dark tracksuit who ran away after prizing it out of her hands.
She was walking on the corner of Sotheby Road and Highbury Park along the path on her phone when the thief attacked her.
Emma tries to chase after the man but he was able to sprint around the corner as another man followed him.
She wrote: ‘My phone got stolen yesterday in London!!! This is the second time in three months that this has happened – all within my so called “safe” neighbourhood.’
But she was then subject to online abuse, with trolls blaming her for the robbery.
How many people have had their phone snatched this year?
Some 78,000 people had phones or bags stolen from them on British streets in the year to March 2024.
That is a rise of more than 150% on the 31,000 ‘snatch thefts’ in the 12 months before, according to data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
Figures also show that four in five police investigations were closed before a suspect was even found and just 0.8% of ‘theft from the person’ complaints resulted in a charge.
The government has pledged to crackdown on the scourge, with the Home Office saying it will work more closely with tech firms and police chiefs.
In this year alone, 213 phones have already been stolen in the City of London.
For the same period between 1 January and 30 April last year, there were 294 phone snatching reports.
Emma added: ‘This video is at nearly 500k views on TikTok and the amount of victim blaming comments is actually insane.
‘People have got so used to theft in London that they’ve started blaming the victims instead of holding criminals accountable.
‘If you are one of the boys that stole my phone, return it and I’ll delete the video. If anyone’s knows anything, please message me!’
She is one of thousands of victims in London. While the Met has made significant progress in stopping snatchers, it is clear more needs to be done.
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How many people have been caught?
This week the Met announced they managed to arrest 10 people involved in phone snatching gangs with their new Flying Squad.
On Thursday, 19 June eight men, aged between 20 and 31, and two 17-year-old boys were arrested at addresses in London on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery.
Detective Chief Inspector Laura Hillier, who is leading the investigation from the Met’s Flying Squad, said: ‘Phone robbery has boomed globally, and London is not immune.
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‘There is a concerted effort by criminal gangs to steal phones and sell them overseas as part of a multi-million-pound industry.
‘The Met is catching more of these criminals and operations such as this are vital to disrupting offenders who cause fear and misery to shop workers and communities.’
The force also carried out a two week focus at the start of the year, leading to the arrests of 292 people.
In footage released by the Metropolitan Police, one plain clothed police officer is seen spotting a phone snatcher, in a dark blue backwards baseball cap and black jacket in Oxford Circus.
The thief had targeted an elderly person in the tourist hot spot, but one officer spotted the attack and tackled him to the ground in front of shocked pedestrians.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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