Talk TV presenter Alex Phillips reveals she broke down in tears when she became latest victim of the mobile phone muggers plaguing London's Oxford Street
Talk TV presenter Alex Phillips today told how she was violently attacked in an attempted mobile phone mugging by a teenager in broad daylight on Britain’s premier shopping street.
Ms Phillips revealed she became the latest London crime statistic after ‘little s***’ on a bike – estimated to be as young as 14 – struck her and attempted to snatch her handset.
The host, 40, who co-presents the Cross Talk segment on the channel, had just left a Samsung mobile phone store close to Tottenham Court Road underground station when she was attacked in broad daylight.
She was walking along Oxford Street looking at her phone when a hooded youth sped up behind her on a bike.
Talk TV presenter Alex Phillips today told how she was violently attacked in an attempted mobile phone mugging by a teenager in broad daylight on Britain’s premier shopping street
Met Police officers pictured on London’s Oxford Street where Alex Phillips was mugged
Alex’s tweet branding the mugger on Oxford Street a ‘little s*** on a bike’
She told MailOnline: ‘He yanked me from behind and I span round. He then karate chopped my hand as I think he was making a grab for the phone.
‘It fell to the floor. I don’t think he was going to get off the bike to pick up the phone and just rode off. It was all over in a few seconds.’
The presenter said she was so shocked by the attempted mugging she started to cry – and then when the shock wore off became increasingly angry at what had happened.
She went on: ‘I would say he was about 14 or 15 from his build. I could not see his face as he had his hood pulled up.’
And the former Member of the European Parliament told MailOnline she feared London was in danger of becoming as lawless as Nairobi in Kenya – where she once lived.
She went on: ‘Since I talked about the mugging so many people have contacted me to say the same thing happened to them. Just on anecdotal evidence phone theft is rampant on Oxford Street. I have heard from so many people who have experienced the same thing in London.
‘It is not acceptable. I lived in Nairobi in Kenya for a time and that place was known as ‘Ni Robbery’ because there was so much crime there.
‘In Nairobi you did not walk down the street at night, and you did not talk on your phone.
‘London is not as bad as Nairobi yet, but it is getting so much worse. It is grim.’
Traders and shoppers in the area supported Ms Phillips’ assertion that street crime is become more prevalent – with brazen robbers carrying out numerous ‘snatch and grab’ raids every day.
Store assistants on Oxford Street have told how they have witnessed the aftermath of the thefts ‘countless’ times with victims left shocked and weeping. And they said that on the street once considered the jewel in the crown of London for retail phone thefts are a daily occurrence.
They said women were almost always the target with the thieves racing up on the pavement behind their victims on bikes or e-scooters.
Lily Hardy, who works in the Smiggles store, said a woman had her phone snatched this morning as she stood outside the shop.
Lily said: ‘She was standing outside the shop and someone on a bike came and grabbed it from her.
‘I just heard her screaming and I think another woman gave chase, but the thief was on a bike and was too fast.
‘You hear about phones being stolen everyday. It is an everyday occurrence. They pick on women as they are less likely to put up a fight or chase.’
Two female staff who work at the Intimissimi Lingerie shop, opposite where Ms Philips incident took place, said they would never walk along Oxford Street while using their mobile phone.
‘I never use my phone out one the street,’ said one of the store assistants, who asked not to be named.
‘There are so many people who come in here and have said their phone has been stolen. We have people who are looking in the store and pickpockets come in and take the phone.’
At the Cool Britannia shop a store assistant said women were always the target for the thefts.
He said a member of his staff stepped outside the store to make a call and had his phone snatched.
‘It is always women that are being picked on,’ said the staff assitant who gave his name as Anand.
‘This goes on everyday, and yet you hardly see any police about. When they do come it is to take a statement and drive off.
‘This is the main shopping street in London and they should be based here at each end of the street.
‘It really is out of control with so many people being robbed.’
A worker at a mobile phone store said: ‘ We have people coming in everyday who have had their phones stolen and asking to block their phones.
‘Its crazy how many people are being robbed, but the police do not seem to be able to do anything.’
Another shop keeper, who asked not to be named, said, phone thefts were mostly carried out in the morning rush hour.
He said:’ You see it all the time, and it is always women.
They are talking on the phone as they walk along the street. Often it is tourists who have come here from a country where it is safe to use a mobile phone.
‘All you hear are women crying after the theft. The thieves know exactly what they are doing. They go off down side roads so people can chase after them.’
Taking to social media Alex said: ‘A little sh**t on a bike just tried to mug me on Oxford St in broad daylight’
The 40-year-old journalist and former politician was walking down Oxford Street in central London when the boy grabbed her bag and ‘karate chopped’ her arm
Oxford Street is covered by CCTV cameras operated by Westminster Council.
A police vehicle being used for facial recognition was parked by Oxford Circus tube station.
The four cameras scanned along Oxford Street looking for faces already on the police database.
But there were no officers on foot patrol when Mail Online visited the street and at the Tottenham Court Road end there were no signs warning visitors about the presence of phone thieves.
Ms Phillips, who is a member of the Reform Party, said there should be a more visible police presence on Oxford Street.
‘I am sure if there were more police out in the street it would act as a deterrent’ she said.
The Met Police do not keep separate crime figures for Oxford Street.
But figures for the borough of Westminster where it is situated show that in the month of November there were almost 2,000 reported crimes of theft.
Recent figures released by the Met Police show there were 57,000 phone thefts in London – an average of 169 a day.
Despite the threat of being mugged many people continued to use their mobile phone while walking along and around Oxford Street.
Diana Arquinigo said she knew people who had their phone snatched in recent months.
‘I think everyone knows someone who has had their phone stolen,’ said the 31 year old barista.
‘I try to be careful but its hard not to use the phone when walking along. It is scary that it is just women who are being picked on.’
Office worker Simone Pietropaolo.33, said he made sure he gripped his mobile with both hands.
He said he knows of at least two work colleagues who had their phones stolen by muggers on push bikes.
‘I do make sure I grip the phone tightly if I am using it while out,’ he said.
A Marks & Spencer executive has warned that crime rates on Oxford Street were surging as London’s famous shopping district falls into disrepair.
Police and large groups of young people were seen in Oxford Circus on August 9 after calls for looting spread on TikTok.
Shocking video from the time showed police wielding batons clashing with dozens of youths in Oxford Street after chaos erupted when a social media-fuelled campaign to ‘rob JD Sports’ and shoplift went viral.
Nine people were arrested by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of offences including assaulting a police officer, going equipped to steal and breaching a dispersal order at the shopping hotspot.
Footage from the scene shows officers chasing after youths outside the Microsoft store in Europe’s busiest shopping street with their batons raised, with some being wrestled away by police and put in handcuffs.
Sacha Berendji, operations director of M&S said the area had once been ‘the jewel in London’s shopping crown’ but was now little more than ’empty shops, littered streets and fewer visitors’.
He said shocking scenes of social media-fuelled carnage as thugs attempted to loot stores in August were ‘another reminder of how bad things are’.