The home secretary, Sajid Javid, has revealed that he was mugged by motor scooter thieves who stole his mobile phone, shortly before he was given his latest cabinet role.
Javid, who is now in charge of the nation’s policing and security, said he was targeted by criminals outside Euston station in north London. The incident happened while he was working as communities secretary.
“It happened in a flash. I was walking out of Euston station and reached for my phone to call a taxi,” the minister said, in an interview with the Sun on Sunday.
“It was brand new. Before I knew what was happening, it had gone. They just rode up, grabbed it and zoomed off.
“I was angry and upset but thought myself lucky not to have been stabbed or beaten up like many other victims who fall prey to these vicious criminals.”
Javid spoke about the incident after news that the comedian Michael McIntyre was robbed of his watch by scooter-riding thieves while on the school run in his Range Rover in north London. The windows of his car were smashed and his Rolex stolen.
There has been growing concern about violent crime in some parts of the country, particularly in London and other big cities.
Javid, who has four children, admitted he worries about them if they are out late. He said it was this parental concern that drove him to tackle the problem. “Our streets should be safe at all times. You shouldn’t have to worry about things like knife or other crime,” he said.
Figures show that fewer than 5% of burglary and robbery cases across the country are being solved.
The Metropolitan police said they were doing all they could to bring thieves to justice and putting a “huge amount of effort” into tackling a rise in moped-related crime, which the force said it has reduced.
The Met said: “A number of robbery offences can be attributed to scooter-related crime. The Met has been putting a huge amount of effort into stemming the rise in these offences and bringing offenders to justice.”
Scotland Yard said there were “particular challenges” in tracking down burglars, but the force has accepted more work needs to be done to tackle such crimes.
It said sanction detection rates, the way it measures cases that are solved, were 5.5% for burglary and 7% for robbery between April 2017 and April 2018. That compared to an overall rate of 13.2% for all offences included in the statistics.
Earlier this month the prime minister was challenged about the government’s response to criminals using mopeds to carry out robberies and other crimes.
Theresa May said the former home secretary Amber Rudd held talks with police to make sure they had the powers they needed to be able to chase moped-riding criminals.
“This issue of moped crime is one that is of concern for people,” May said.
