The shoe fits: Cinderella phone snatcher guilty

A ‘Cinderella’ phone snatcher won’t be having a fairytale ending after he was arrested when forensic investigators matched his DNA to the shoe he left behind.

Spencer Duarte, 28, of Saffron Walden, pleaded guilty at Inner London Crown Court to one count of theft. He also accepted that he had items in his rucksack going equipped to steal.

On Wednesday 7 August 2024, at around 12pm at Ludgate Hill, Duarte, who dressed as a commuter to evade suspicion, was on his electric bike when he snatched a phone from a victim’s hand.

A member of the public witnessed the snatch and tackled Duarte, knocking him off his bike. During a scuffle the phone snatcher lost a shoe, dropped his rucksack, and three phones fell to the ground.

Crime scene investigators recovered the trainer left at the scene, which was then sent to be forensically analysed.

Physical Forensics Manager Andrew Walker, of the City of London Police, said:

“We were able to get sufficient levels of DNA from the shoe to obtain a single, major profile that was suitable for searching against the National DNA Database.

“This search generated a ‘hit’ to a male whose profile had previously been uploaded. The slipper fitted our Cinderella and we were able to bring him before the courts.”

Duarte was spotted and stopped by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service on 9 September and brought to Bishopsgate police station for interview, where he was arrested on suspicion of theft from a person.

Police Constable Jake Dean, of the City of London Police, said:

“Do not come to the City and think you can steal from residents, workers or visitors without paying the penalty. Our targeted patrols, excellent police work and extensive CCTV will mean you will be caught and brought to justice.

“Phone snatching has a significant impact on victims and our key priority has been to reduce the number of phones stolen and relentlessly target those criminals responsible.”

CCTV footage shows the moment members of the public tried to stop the phone-snatching.

After initially being tackled and falling off his bike, Duarte attempted to flee, but was then pulled from his bike a second time.

He then made off on foot, losing his shoe and his rucksack, which had a pack of disposable face coverings and two rolls of kitchen foil.

Kitchen foil is often use by phone thieves to wrap stolen phones; this acts a faraday bag and prevents the phone from being traced and detected.

Duarte was also seen discarding his cycle helmet and the other shoe.