An office worker has been hailed a hero after saving a girl from moped attackers who tried to steal her phone.
The data analyst, who works on St John Street, grabbed the girl just moments before the would-be attackers were able to snatch her phone.
The man’s wife described the attack: “He saw the moped with two guys all in black do a U-turn”.
She added: “He then saw the girl walking towards him with headphones in and texting and realised the danger.
“He shouted to her, ‘Put your phone away!’ But obviously she didn’t hear. So he grabbed her”.
The thieves swerved and yelled “F****** C***!” at the rescuer before speeding away.
The girl was shaken but unhurt. She thanked the St John Street worker for his actions.
The incident was reported to police after details were posted on social media.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan police said: “At just before 19:30 on 22nd November the police received a report about an attempted robbery in Clerkenwell.”
Islington has the second highest level of moped crime in London, with 3,587 crimes this year, almost all of which are thought to be phone snatches.
The reduction of the number of police officers has left the borough less able to deal with criminals. In Finsbury, the number of officers has more than halved.
“We used to have six [police officers]. Now there’s just three officers between here and Bunhill”, said local Councillor Rafael Andrews.
“It’s just impractical. We have the second highest population density in London”.
Olesea Matcovschit, the Students’ Union President of one of the largest universities in the area, City, University of London – which has repeatedly warned its students against open displaying valuables in public amid a surge in local phone snatchings – has heralded the rescuer as a hero.
“I would like to thank the hero-passerby who saved the potential victim from an attempted moped attack”.
“It is great to know that Londoners are willing to help a person in trouble”.
