Labour MP mugged by phone-snatching gang on way back to London flat

A Labour MP has urged people to be more vigilant after he was mugged by a group of people on bikes for his mobile phone on his way back to his London flat.

Chris Webb said that while he is “not an easy target” as a “big guy” of 6ft 2in, a “stealthy” group on bikes clad in balaclavas managed to catch him off-guard on Monday night.

The Blackpool South MP was walking home from Parliament around 10pm and called into a corner shop to pick up a parcel, but it was closed. He had been on the phone to his wife and put his phone in his pocket, he told the PA news agency.

As he turned around and took a few steps, a group of five or six individuals all dressed in black and wearing balaclavas grabbed him and took his phone. They then made a quick getaway, he said.

The CCTV later showed they were on e-bikes, he said.

He locked his iPhone using his smartwatch and when the police came, he helped them to track the phone to a location where an individual was caught with a bag of phones and arrested. Mr Webb’s phone has not been recovered.

“I was walking to the shop,” Mr Webb said.

“I was on the phone to my wife. I then got off the phone with my wife after I literally said – I think I jinxed myself – that, ‘oh, I better get off my phone. I don’t know this area and it’s a bit dark’.

“Got to the shop, spoke that and, as I’m walking away, went to reach into my pocket to get my phone to phone my wife back, and that’s when they grab me.

“They grab my arm to stop me… and then off they went,” he said.

He suspects the group must have seen him using his new iPhone, noticed he was on his own and managed to catch him off-guard.

“I’m a big guy. I’m six foot two … I’m not an easy target, but obviously these were confident enough to kind of grab me and stop me so they could get away,” he said.

Mr Webb was not injured.

“I wasn’t on the phone at the time, and I didn’t hear them, which is remarkable in itself, of how stealthy these are, because these are on bikes,” he added.

“So the fact that, you know, and I’m normally pretty aware of my surroundings, I’ve got pretty decent reflexes and things like that from training and boxing training.

“And I’m just surprised, because if I grabbed hold of one of them, they would have gone flying on the bike, because I wouldn’t have let go. So I’m kind of surprised how they managed to get so close to me without me realising.”

His first instinct was to chase the group but he quickly realised he should instead get the phone tracked and locked and call the police.

“My instant reaction was to kind of chase. And that might be – I put that to the stupid male testosterone a part of my brain as us males have – and then quickly realised that is not a smart thing to do in the surroundings I don’t know, in a place I’m unfamiliar and outnumbered six to one.”

He does not think he was targeted for being an MP, but rather that it was a case of “wrong place, wrong time”.

“I don’t think I was targeted as an MP … whilst I was in a suit and shirt and tie, they would not have known I was a member of Parliament.”

He said the police went “above and beyond” to help him.

Mr Webb says he used the tracking on his phone via his smartwatch to lead police to an area where they caught someone with stolen phones – but his phone was not among them.

His advice to others is to stay vigilant when out at night with your phone, use headphones where possible and do not have your phone out on show.

“I think I was just a victim of crime who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was not being as vigilant as I should be with my phone out at 10 o’clock at night,” he said.

The Metropolitan Police said officers were called at 9.55pm on Monday following reports of a robbery on Lambeth Walk.

“The victim was approached by a group of men who stole his phone from his hand. Inquiries remain ongoing,” the force said.

Around 78,000 people had phones or bags snatched from them in England and Wales in the year to March 2024, well over double the 31,000 such thefts recorded in the previous 12 months.

Police put the rise down to increased demand for second-hand smartphones, both in the UK and abroad.

National police intelligence until Operation Opal is gathering information on the criminals who steal the devices and where they end up.

Just 0.8% of thefts from the person recorded in the year to March 2024 resulted in a charge, and 81.9% of police investigations were closed before a suspect was found.

Downing Street said “nobody should be a victim of crime as they are simply walking home” and “our thoughts are obviously with that MP”.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Over the last year there has been a shocking rise in criminals snatching bags and phones from people walking down the streets and we must do more to tackle this criminality.

“We obviously remain committed to our manifesto pledge to recruit thousands of extra police for our communities and make sure every area has a named officer.”