Sonny Stringer London’s most notorious phone snatcher jailed

Sonny Stringer, who stole 24 mobile phones in a single morning, has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Stringer, 28, was intercepted by City of London Policer officers as he and an unknown accomplice rode into the City at speed on electric motorbikes on 26 March. 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.

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.

“This was a team effort from our control team following the criminals on CCTV and communicating with officers on the ground, to response officers making risk-critical decisions to protect the public and effect an arrest. Not forgetting our investigators tracking down victims from across London, returning valuable mobile phones and ensuring a guilty verdict.

“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.

Control Officer Lynn Newins explains what happened when the first call came in, she said:

“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.

“I sadly speak to lots of victims of phone snatchers and the loss of their phone is devastating to them. People have their worlds on their phones and it isn’t a minor crime to them. I spoke to one of the victims who called to say we had their phone. It was nice to know that we played a role in getting it back to them.”

On Fetter Lane the pair evaded a marked police car and at speeds nearing 50 mph, they cut across a pedestrian crossing, narrowly missing one member of the public, while another had to run to avoid being hit.

Road Police Officer PC Smith drove towards Bank Junction. Stringer overtook a stationary bus crossing the dashed white line in the middle of the road, before turning sharply left in front of the bus to mount the pavement. PC Smith, an advanced police driver who is trained in tactical pursuit and containment (TPAC), made the operational decision to initiate 'tactical contact' on the rear wheel of Stringer’s Surron electric bike.

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.