- Did you see what happened? Email lettice.bromovsky@dailymail.co.uk
This is the dramatic moment a gang of heroic bystanders chased down an alleged street thief and pinned him to the ground in broad daylight on one of London’s busiest streets.
The group sprang into action after witnessing what they believed to be a robbery on Camden High Street in north London, before pursuing the suspect on foot.
Shocking footage shows the man being restrained beneath the Camden Lock railway bridge as members of the public hold him down until police arrive.
A moped can be seen lying on its side nearby as the suspect struggles to get back to his feet, before being overpowered by the good samaritans.
Police were called to the scene at around 11.40am on Wednesday and arrested an 18-year-old man.
The Metropolitan Police said: ‘On Wednesday, 17 December at 11:41hrs police received a report that several members of the public were detaining a suspected thief.
‘Officers attended and arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of theft, theft of a vehicle, possession of cannabis and driving without a licence, insurance or MOT. He remains in police custody.
‘No injuries were reported. Anyone with information that may assist police is asked to call 101 quoting CAD 2956/17Dec.’
The incident comes amid a spate of street robberies across the capital, with a particular rise in criminals using mopeds and e-bikes to snatch mobile phones from pedestrians.
It is the latest example of fed-up bystanders stepping in to stop suspected thieves.
It follows another recent incident where a heroic Londoner who fearlessly tackled a phone snatcher off his bike.
Alex, originally from New Zealand, was on his lunch break from work when he said he first spotted a cyclist that he described as looking ‘slightly off’.
Speaking to Daily Mail about his initial scepticism towards the ‘slow moving’ cyclist, he said: ‘The way he turned around slowly and then did a quick U-turn on his bike looked slightly off to me.
‘He looked as though he was perched on a road corner and doing laps in an attempt to pinch phones. I suspected that a phone snatch was about to occur’.
In fact, Alex had laid eyes on Spencer Duarte, of Saffron Walden. On Monday, he admitted to one count of theft at Inner LondonCrown Court and will be sentenced on September 12.
Having witnessed the 28-year-old make a swipe at an innocent victim holding their phone in hand, Alex was confronted with a dilemma – he could either choose to confront the robber head on, or continue to walk by as if nothing had happened.
For him, it was a no-brainer. The quick-thinking pedestrian’s instincts immediately kicked in and Alex courageously leapt for the phone thief, shoulder-barging him off his bike and into the street.
Recounting the shocking ordeal on August 7 last year, he said: ‘It’s all a bit of a blur, but I remember seeing him make the attempt at snatching the phone and quickly leapt out at him. It all happened so fast.
In another incident a suspected pickpocket who targeted a tube commuter came unstuck – when he struck in front of a champion martial artist.
Ivan Skoko, 29, used his expertise in Brazilian jiu-jitsu to wrestle the man to the ground at busy Borough Station, South London.
The 6ft3 black belt says the suspect was waiting on the platform for a victim before grabbing at a young woman’s device as she boarded a tube carriage at around 7pm.
But quick thinking Ivan seized the man, in his 20s, by his hoodie, threw him to the ground and placed him in an arm lock within seconds.
Ivan told the Daily Mail: ‘I heard a very loud scream, everyone turned around and my first thought was ‘what can I do to help’.
‘The woman had just boarded the train. The doors were about to close and the thief reached inside and began pulling her phone away.
‘She held on very tight and shouted ‘he is trying to rob me’. I grabbed him and took him down with a foot sweep. I didn’t even hesitate.
‘I held him on the ground and asked some people to get the train staff, which they did.
These cases follow data from the Metropolitan Police released in August that showed 116,000 mobile phones were stolen in London last year, or 320 every single day.
The London borough with the most phones stolen in 2024 was Westminster, with 34,039. Camden came second with 10,907, followed by Southwark with 7,316.
There were 116,656 reported mobile thefts in 2024 – the highest number on record – and more than 50 per cent higher than the total in 2017 of just over 77,000.
Last year’s total was equivalent to 13 phones being stolen every hour – and it was 1,300 incidents higher than in the previous 12 months. Despite the number of thefts, only 169 suspects were charged in the year, and seven were let off with a caution.
The figures, obtained from the Met under freedom of information laws by campaign group Crush Crime, also showed a further 8,588 handset thefts in January this year.
