'SAVE OUR STREETS FROM THE PHONE MUGGERS'

MINISTER SAYS PUBLIC NEEDS PROTECTING FROM THE SCOURGE OF VIOLENT ROBBERIES

- Nicholas Cecil, Rachael Burford, John Dunne

LONDON'S streets need to be "protected" to stop the epidemic of mobile phone thefts, a minister said today.

Asked about a report that a phone is stolen every six minutes, with a recovery rate of just two per cent, policing minister Chris Philp said he was "deeply concerned by those figures as a Londoner". He told LBC Radio: "That is precisely why we are recruiting all these extra police officers and once they are all through their training, being able to protect the streets to prevent these crimes happening in the first place, and then follow up afterwards!" Pressed on whether there is currently enough follow-up by police on such crimes, the Croydon South MP added: “There is more we can do.” He highlighted moves to recruit thousands more officers and to get more of them back on the beat by reducing form filling.