‘Phone zombies’ easy pickings for moped-riding robbers

 A rise in theft by criminals on mopeds has been partially blamed on “phone zombies” – people who stare at their phones while walking along the street.

Oxford Street in London is full of rich pickings for the thieves, who sit two to a bike as one steers and the other snatches phones from people’s hands, say police.

Police say snatched devices can be sold for £200, and some thieves manage to take dozens a day. Such thefts have risen by 2,100 per cent in two years; there were 291 offences in 2016 – up from 13 in 2014-15.

Dr Simon Harding, an associate professor of criminology at the University of West London, told the BBC that “phone zombies” were fuelling the crime.

“If you look at mobile phones five years ago, they were pretty much in our pockets unless we got a phone call. Nowadays people are phone zombies. They are on their phone walking along the street, bumping into people, not knowing where they are going.”