I hunt phone thieves professionally – I was still targeted on Oxford Street

Telegraph

2 days ago

A former Scotland Yard detective has revealed he fought off a masked mobile phone thief on an e-bike in 'lawless' Britain.
David McKelvey, a former detective chief inspector who led a Metropolitan Police squad fighting organised crime gangs, said the robber was openly riding around central London at the busiest time of the day like a 'modern day highwayman'.
Dressed all in black, including a black balaclava and riding an e-bike, he had successfully targeted another victim near Oxford Street before trying to steal Mr McKelvey's phone.
'Fortunately I had a good grip on the phone, being aware of the risks,' said the former detective, who now runs a private security firm providing trained officers to protect stores and residents from shoplifters and snatch robbers such as his masked assailant.
'I didn't see him come up behind me on the electric bike, I was on the pavement. He grabbed the phone but didn't get it out of my grip. He then accelerated into the road and away.
'Broad daylight. Busy street. Central London. Areas of London have become lawless. Criminals operate openly, even in the middle of the day.
'These modern day highwaymen spend all day riding around looking for anyone on their phone or holding them in their hands.'
He said after 30 years in policing and security he knew to keep a grip on his phone, but that 'it can happen to anyone'.
'I called him some profanities as he escaped, far worse than 'scumbag'. Let's hope I do not get reported for a 'hurty words' offence,' he said.
Investigators from Mr McKelvey's company, My Local Bobby, are currently hunting down two e-bike robbers armed with zombie knives who have been terrorising an area in west London. Once identified, his firm will bring a private prosecution.
Some 78,000 people had phones or bags snatched from them on the street in the year ending March 2024, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
That is equivalent to 200 'snatch thefts' a day and is a 153 per cent increase on the number of incidents in the year ending March 2023.
London is seen as the 'epicentre' of phone thefts with £50 million worth of handsets reported stolen in the capital in 2024.
In a blitz on the 'scourge of mobile phone theft' in February, Met officers arrested 230 people in just a week and recovered 1,000 handsets by targeting hotspots such as Westminster and the West End.
In his private investigation, Mr McKelvey described how one of his officers confronted armed robbers who had targeted the area previously by 'smashing car windows with hammers to steal from local residents'.
'Despite being outnumbered and threatened with knives, he showed outstanding courage. He managed to pull one of the suspects off his bike, causing both to flee the scene,' he said.
'The abandoned electric bike, likely stolen, was recovered and will be key to identifying the offenders through forensic evidence.'
He said police were told but didn't attend the scene, although the electric bike was later 'taken to the police station for examination'.
'This follows several previous incidents where suspects armed with weapons have attacked bobbies and damaged a marked patrol vehicle. Police had not attended the earlier incidents either,' he said.
'The matter is now being handled by experienced detectives from My Local Bobby, and once the offenders are identified, they will face justice through a private criminal prosecution.
'This is community policing that never backs down. We will hunt these criminals down and bring them to justice. Nobody threatens, or assaults our team and gets away with it.'