Overview

• Zacariah Boulares, 18, pleaded guilty in May to stealing Genevieve Chenneour’s phone and assaulting another customer and is due to be sentenced on June 17.
• Chenneour retrieved her phone during the February attack, suffered a concussion and says she no longer feels safe in London, leading her to take a break from city life.
• An Algerian national with 12 previous convictions for 28 offences, Boulares earlier threatened singer Aled Jones with a machete during a 2023 Rolex robbery.
• London recorded over 70,000 phone thefts in 2024, with the stolen devices fueling an estimated £50 million black market.
• Home Office rules barred Boulares’s earlier deportation as he was a minor, but a sentence over 12 months could trigger removal proceedings.