Overview

• Michelle Tsiakkas detailed on Instagram how a masked man on an electric bike snatched her phone in broad daylight near Covent Garden.
• She fell and sustained a grazed knee while trying to retrieve her phone, later calling the ordeal ‘‘traumatising’’ and saying it left her ‘‘scared and helpless.’’
• Two women intervened immediately to comfort and assist her after the robbery.
• Scotland Yard data for 2023 reveal a 20% year-on-year increase in mobile phone robberies across London, with 81,256 incidents recorded.
• The figures translate to an average of 37 daily phone snatches, prompting Tsiakkas to warn fans to stay vigilant in central London.