A London phone snatcher dubbed “Cinderella” by police has admitted theft after DNA was found on his lost shoe.
Spencer Duarte was tackled off his e-bike by members of the public after he stole a device in the City of London on August 7 last year.
His trainer came off in Ludgate Hill and he was captured on CCTV wearing one shoe after he managed to escape.
Duarte, 28, also lost his rucksack, which contained a pack of face coverings and two rolls of kitchen foil.
A ‘Cinderella’ phone snatcher has pleaded guilty to theft today.
— City of London Police (@CityPolice) June 23, 2025
Forensics matched DNA to a shoe left behind by the thief and identified that the shoe was a match to Spencer Duarte, 28, of Saffron Walden. pic.twitter.com/B1Z92NWUep
Officers from City of London Police sent the shoe for DNA analysis and found Duarte’s profile on the national database.
Duarte, of Saffron Walden in Essex, was spotted and arrested by Metropolitan Police officers on September 9.
On Monday, Duarte appeared at Inner London Crown where he admitted one count of theft. He will be sentenced on September 12.
Andrew Walker, a forensics manager at 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.
The slipper fitted our Cinderella
“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.”
Between January and May 2025, there were 213 phones reported stolen in the City of London.
For the same period between January and April last year, there were 294 phone snatching reports.
