Muggings on mopeds rise as police give up chase

MOPED muggings have increased dramatically in the last 12 months, with fears being raised that police officers are not chasing suspects.

Even those they do catch regularly escape justice, with reports of youths who have 80 arrests avoiding jail due to their age.

More than 11,000 offences have been reported in London in the last year.

It is feared criminals may be taking advantage of the Metropolitan Police’s pursuit policy, which states that drivers can only mount chases in rare cases, such as if there is a “significant” risk to life, property or national security.

In one case reported on May 7, a gang of up to eight people on mopeds broke a tourist’s leg as they tried to steal his watch on Park Lane.

The next day, residents in Battersea complained that moped gangs armed with machetes were terrorising them. “The police don’t chase them so it’s almost a licence to commit crime,” one resident said.

Among those targeted was George Osborne, the former chancellor and now Evening Standard editor. He revealed last week that he had been the subject of an unsuccessful moped mugging, with the assailant armed with a hammer.

Similar crimes have taken place in Birmingham, Newcastle-upon-tyne and Manchester.

Some reports have suggested that criminals are removing their motorcycle helmets to get the police to stop chasing them, as the police will desist in case of causing injury.

Det Ch Sup Stuart Ryan, of the Metropolitan Police, said there had been 11,389 incidents in London in the last 12 months.

“Some of these young people have been arrested 60, 70, 80 times,” he told the Sun on Sunday. “They keep committing offences, you arrest them and put them in front of the court, the court won’t do anything substantive with them. It is a cycle.”

Det Ch Sup Paul Rickett, the force lead on police pursuits, said officers were trained to assess the level of risk to the people being pursued, as well as the officers themselves and the public.

He said: “The safety of people directly and indirectly involved in a pursuit incident is paramount and additional safeguards are in place when the vehicle being pursued is a moped or motorcycle.”