Labor MP mugged by phone-stealing gang on way back to London flat

A Labor MP has urged people to be more vigilant after he was robbed by a group of people on bicycles for his mobile phone on the way to his flat in London.

Chris Webb said that while he was “not an easy target” as a 6ft 2in “big boy”, an “undercover” group on balaclava-clad bikes managed to catch him off guard on Monday night.

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

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

He locked his iPhone using his smartwatch and when the police came, he helped them 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 on my way to the shop,” Mr Webb said.

“I spoke on the phone with my wife. Then I spoke to my wife after literally saying – I think I fooled myself – that “oh I better get off the phone”.

“‘I don’t know this area and it’s a little dark.’ I got to the store, I said that and as I was walking away I went to reach into my pocket to get my phone to call my wife back and that’s when they caught me.

“I say, they grab my arm to stop me … and then they’re gone,” he said.

He suspects the group must have seen him using his new iPhone, noticed he was alone 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 they were confident enough to 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, about how hidden they are because they’re 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 one of them, it 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 noticing.”

His first instinct was to follow the group, but he quickly realized he should instead follow and lock the phone and call the police.

“My instant reaction was to follow. And that could be—I put that to the stupid male testosterone part of my brain like we men do—and then quickly realized that it’s not a smart thing to do in environments that don’t I know, in a place where I am. unknown and outnumbered six to one.”

He does not believe he was targeted to be an MP, but rather that it was a case of “wrong place, wrong time”.

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

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

Mr Webb says he used his phone tracking 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 alert when out at night with your phone, use headphones where possible and keep your phone out of sight.

“I think I was just a crime victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and wasn’t as alert as I should have been with my phone out at 10 o’clock at night,” he said.

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

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