I was victim of moped muggers reveals Javid
HOME Secretary Sajid Javid is a new high-profile figure to reveal he has been attacked by moped muggers.
The Tory MP said his phone was snatched near London’s Euston station.
But Mr Javid, who holds government responsibility for policing and crime, said he felt fortunate that he was not “stabbed or beaten up”.
His revelation came at a time when 50 moped-related crimes a day are reported in London alone.
Other famous victims include comedian Michael McIntyre, former chancellor George Osborne, author Annabel Karmel and money saving expert Martin Lewis.
Mr Javid, 48, also announced in a newspaper interview a crackdown on knife crime, by restricting sales of so-called zombie blades, long knives of the type used in horror films.
“I want to ensure we do all we can to tackle rising knife crime,” he said.
“Used wrongly, all knives are dangerous. I’ll restrict all online knife sales so they must be delivered to a nonresidential address.”
Mr Javid said he was robbed after arriving back in the capital a couple of years ago. He said: “It happened in a flash. I was walking out of Euston station and reached for my phone to call a taxi. 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.”
The father-of-four is determined to tackle surging crime rates because he worries about his children whenever they are out late. “Our streets should be safe at all times, you shouldn’t have to worry about things like knife or other crime,” he said.
The Daily Express is campaigning to highlight the terror and mayhem caused by yobs who use mopeds for attacks and robberies.
Theresa May vowed this month to provide police with the powers they need to tackle the worrying trend.
“The danger posed by thugs on mopeds on the streets has been vividly highlighted by the Daily Express,” she said.
YOU know that things are bad when the man in charge of the nation’s law and order admits he too has become a victim of the latest crime-wave – by moped-riding robbers. Sajid Javid has revealed he had his mobile phone snatched by moped muggers just months before he became our Home Secretary. He has our sympathy, and he now knows – or should do – the importance of the Daily Express Stop The Moped Madness crusade.
Moped gangs committed 23,000 crimes last year, at a rate of 64 a day.
The Home Secretary admitted he felt lucky not to have been stabbed or beaten up like other victims have been.
His comments came just days after a judge warned of the “alarming increase” in moped gang violence as he put two murdering criminals behind bars for nearly 50 years for the mindless killing of charity worker Abdul Samad.
Mr Javid has pledged a crackdown on knife crime, with online sales checks and a ban on so-called “zombie knives”. It’s a good start, but with a new report revealing that fewer than five per cent of street robberies and burglaries are being solved by police, it doesn’t fill you with confidence.
Hopefully with his first-hand experience of the terror wrought by the moped robbers, the Home Secretary will have sufficient encouragement to give the police the powers they need to come down hard on these thugs.