Phone thief who snatched 24 mobiles in a morning crime spree on e-bike has been jailed

CCTV shows how Sonny Stringer stole 24 mobile phones during a single morning crime spree - which has earned him two years in prison. Stringer, 28, was intercepted by cops, as he and an unknown accomplice rode around the streets at speed on electric motorbikes on 26 March.

iPhone snatched from woman’s hand

At around 11.15am, a woman was standing on Blackfriars Bridge when her iPhone 15 was snatched from her hand. It was quickly reported to the police; control officers picked up the criminals on the City’s camera network and directed officers to begin searching for them.

Bag contained 22 mobile phones

CCTV released today shows that Stringer was about to mount the pavement into the direction of a family pushing a buggy. The TPAC manoeuvre was reviewed and deemed to be proportionate and responsible to avoid serious injury to members of the public and effect arrest. Stringer came off his bike and attempted to run away. He was quickly arrested. Stringer threw a black faraday bag, away from him. The bag contained 22 mobile phones. A further two phones had been dropped when the tactical contact was made.

Thief brought to justice

Chief Superintendent William Duffy said: “Phone snatching has a significant impact on victims and it is right that Stringer received a custodial sentencing for snatching mobiles on London’s streets. The successful capture and prosecution of a prolific phone snatcher shows City of London Police’s focus on detecting and bringing to justice those who steal from people on our streets.

“We’d urge people to be aware of their surroundings when using their mobile phones on the street. Limit the opportunities for criminals to target you by reducing the number of times you have your phones out while in the street.”

Stringer received 20 months to run concurrently for each of the theft charges. He was also given an additional four months for dangerous driving. Sentencing took place at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday 8 August.

Cameras used in high speed pursuit

Control Officer Lynn Newins explains what happened when the first call came in, saying: “I took a call from a member of the public who had witnessed a phone snatching on the south side of Blackfriars Bridge. My colleague Damon said he had the suspects on our cameras. I quickly started relaying information to officers on the ground. In the control room we can manage the position of the cameras ourselves, which is very useful and speeds up our ability to track criminals. We spun the cameras around on Cheapside and updated officers on the phone snatchers’ path. I remember saying that they were ‘going like the clappers’ and could see members of the public having to avoid being hit by them.

“When we saw that officers had apprehended one of the suspects it was a huge sense of achievement for all those involved. Working in control you sometimes don’t hear about the success stories as they tend to happen later, so to be a part of it and see that they recovered so many phones was a big win.”