NEW LAW TO TACKLE MOPED MUGGERS
Theresa May praises our campaign
THERESA May last night vowed to beef up police powers to tackle moped crime.
In a victory for the Daily Express crusade, she pledged officers will be given what they need to combat the growing menace. And she insisted
she had not lost control of Britain’s streets. Speaking at the G7 summit in Canada, the Prime Minister praised our Stop the Moped Madness crusade.
“The danger posed by thugs on mopeds on the streets has been vividly highlighted by the Daily Express,” she said. “This is a menace the Government, working with the police, is determined to tackle.”
Her promise comes after a series of shocking crimes by so-called moped muggers including a savage attack on Monday which left a young woman fighting for her life.
Pharmacist Piruntha Palarasa, 24, suffered a catastrophic head injury when a thug hit her with a ‘“knockout punch” during a street robbery in Edgware, north-west London. Two muggers on a motorbike escaped with her phone.
Hours earlier, two moped muggers robbed comedian Michael McIntyre of a Rolex watch in Golders Green, north London, in front of his 10-yearold son.
Latest figures show the scale of moped crime, particularly in the capital where there are 60 attacks by robbers on motorbikes every day.
But police efforts to pursue suspects are hamstrung by the outdated law on careless and dangerous driving. Mrs May has given the strongest signal yet that trained police pursuit drivers will be exempt from prosecution provided they act in a necessary and proportionate way. She said: “This issue of moped crime is one that is of concern for people.
“That’s why one of the things we are looking at, in terms of the pursuit police are able to make, is ensuring they have got the powers that they need.
“It will mean they are able to pursue them and able to take the action we agree that they want to take.”
Under current law, police drivers can be charged with careless or dangerous driving even though the public expects them to take risks in the high-speed pursuit of fleeing criminals.
They are allowed to exceed the speed limit, go through red lights and ignore some road signs. But they risk prosecution for a range of manoeuvres – for example overtaking another vehicle at speed on the wrong side of the road to keep up the chase.
The Road Traffic Act 1988 treats the police in the same way as every other driver and takes no account of their special training.
They can be hauled before a court for careless or dangerous driving if they are deemed to fall below the standard of a “competent and careful motorist”.
Apart from being prosecuted, officers face the strain of lengthy investigation and may be suspended from duty while it is carried out. Acquittal in court may not be the end of their ordeal as they could face disciplinary action.
In 2015, PC Vaughan Lowe was cleared of causing the death of a man in Birmingham by careless driving three years earlier. He had to wait another 18 months before he was cleared of gross misconduct by West Midlands Police. The Crown Prosecution Service issued guidance to prosecutors in 2012 saying that it is “very unlikely” to be in the public interest to charge police drivers if they allegedly commit offences “while responding to an emergency call”.
Inexplicably, the CPS still prosecuted two Sussex Police officers for chasing a notorious thief driving a stolen car.
The suspect, who had 145 previous convictions and was on bail for burglary and banned from the road, started driving “erratically”.
The police driver and his colleague decided to break Sajid Javid wants more use of stop and search off the chase after four minutes. But the CPS still charged them both with dangerous driving even though there were no complaints and no collision with any other vehicle. They were acquitted. The Police Federation has been lobbying for an overhaul of legislation for seven years and has given a “cautious welcome” to a consultation paper issued by the Home Office last month. At the time, officials said they wished to “smash the myth” that moped muggers merely have to take off their helmets to end a police chase. Police drivers cannot be blamed for a suspect’s reckless driving, the Home Office said. The consultation process ends in August and the Federation is urging the Government to pass a new law quickly.
The Prime Minister also defended her record on law and order amid concerns that the Government and police have lost control of the streets with a surge in violent crime and a murder rate in London higher than New York.
Mrs May has come under criticism for her actions when she was Home Secretary, including reducing the use of stop and search powers, which is now linked to the rise in knife crime.
Mrs May said: “Let me be very clear about stop and search. Stop and search is a very important tool
for the police. What I said to the police was that they should do it and use it lawfully because what we found from the chief inspector’s report was about a quarter of stops and searches were being done effectively illegally. It is an important tool but do it lawfully.”
New Home Secretary Sajid Javid has urged the police to start using stop and search powers again.
Detectives investigating the attack on Ms Palarasa were questioning two youths aged 17 and 18 last night. They were arrested on suspicion of robbery on Thursday.
The family of a father stabbed to death for his £7,000 Rolex hit out yesterday after the moped mugger, who refused to identify his accomplice, was convicted of murder.
Jordan Bailey-Mascoll, 25, faces life behind bars for his role in the killing of Danny Pearce, 31, who was ambushed with his girlfriend as he left Oliver’s jazz club in Greenwich, south London, last year.
Following the jury’s verdict, Mr Pearce’s mother Jan Pearce, 63, urged police to find the fellow attacker, known only as Ghost.
“We need to get these murderers off the streets, to prevent another family going through the same heartbreak,” she said in a statement. “I don’t want another mum to go through this agony. I need to know those responsible will be locked up for a very long time.”
The pair had been driving round on a moped targeting people with expensive watches, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
MOPED crime is a new and frightening development. Victims have not only been robbed but have suffered serious injuries as a result. Some have had acid thrown in their faces.
As Gary Mason writes on this page, the police are always playing catch-up with new forms of criminality. But in tackling moped crime they are stymied by laws on dangerous driving. In the past there were several cases where fast police pursuits led to deaths or accidents. Police drivers have been prosecuted for “responding to an emergency call” and charged with “dangerous driving”.
The moped thieves know this and use it to their advantage. But the Prime Minister has pledged to give the police powers to tackle this crime wave and wrest back control of Britain’s streets.
This is likely to include using stop and search powers again. But there should also be a more direct response to individuals on mopeds. It is unfortunate for innocent drivers but as it stands a moped has become a tool in the criminal arsenal. The police should have the right to question riders about their intentions.
Once caught, moped thieves should be in no doubt that they will face tough, long sentences. Only then will they be deterred from carrying out these terrifying crimes.