Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway has spoken of her “shock” after her mobile phone was stolen from her bag in London.
The 58-year-old was interviewing Strictly Come Dancing professional Michelle Tsiakkas on Thursday’s show when the conversation turned to the rise in phone thefts.
Michelle recalled her own recent ordeal, saying her phone was snatched from her hand as she walked to the dentist.
“Within about five to ten seconds of me taking it out, it was grabbed, gone,” she said. “I’m generally quite aware as a person, I look around me, but you just can’t predict these things.”
Michelle has also spoken about the incident on social media and is urging people to stay alert when using their phones in public, especially for checking messages or directions.
"Pop into a shop, send directions, come back out," she advised.
As a police officer joined the segment to give tips on protecting yourself from theft, Kate revealed that she didn’t feel she had received enough help from officers when her phone was stolen.
She said: "That has not been my experience. Is there something different if things are swiped off you physically?
"I've had phones stolen in London in a bag, I've tried to report it, and they've said, 'Do you want the insurance code number?' There was no sense that police were going to come, look at the area, see where it might be."
Turning to Michelle, Kate added: “I was quite traumatised, because it’s a shock, you don’t expect it, it’s an invasion of your personal space.”
“When it happened, I felt like I lost the strength in my legs,” she said.
The segment comes just a day after it was reported that Kate had sold a second property in order to pay off what has been described as an “excessive, unpayable debt” linked to the care of her late husband, Derek Draper.
Kate is said to have sold the London flat for £1.5 million. The property, which was heavily mortgaged, had been kept as a safety net.
Derek died aged 56 in January last year following complications from Covid-19. He had spent almost four years receiving treatment after first being admitted to intensive care in 2020, making him one of the UK’s longest-suffering long Covid patients.
It is understood that Kate faced debts of up to £800,000 related to his care, as well as financial liabilities connected to Derek’s business, Astra Aspera, which closed in 2022.
A source told the Sun: “Kate takes paying off the debts very seriously and she's always said she'd go to any lengths to achieve that.
"This is just part of that commitment, even if it does mean she's had to lose the flat which she actually purchased years ago before meeting Derek and before they bought a family home together.
“Like many people, she was keeping it as a financial safety net which she thought she wouldn't have to use so soon.”
