Police ‘not doing enough to tackle moped gangs’
MOPED crime is “out of control” and police are not doing enough to tackle it, senior Conservatives have warned, as footage emerged showing armed gangs targeting drivers stationary in traffic.
Stephen Greenhalgh, the former deputy mayor for crime in London said criminals were targeting parents picking up their children from private schools and officers were failing to stop them.
It comes days after Michael Mcintyre, the comedian, had his watch stolen while in his Range Rover with his son.
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, told the Home Secretary to “walk the walk” and hand over extra cash as a police video showed men being robbed of their watches while waiting at a junction in London.
The footage, filmed on a dashcam, shows four men pull up alongside the car on two scooters before threatening the occupants with a hammer and a knife, stealing their watches and stamping on their windscreen.
It happened on Saturday evening in north London while the car was stationary in traffic. Mcintyre had his watch stolen by a gang armed with a hammer while he was picking his son up from school in the same area.
On both occasions, the watches stolen were worth thousands of pounds, suggesting gangs may be deliberately following members of the public. Experts warned the
gangs were targeting parents as they picked up their children from private schools in the capital, and called for police to be stationed at known hotspots.
Mr Greenhalgh, who was the deputy mayor for policing and crime under Boris Johnson, told The Daily Telegraph: “This is organised moped crime. It is happening in a small number of streets but I don’t get any sense of a plan or priority given to tackling it by the police. It is out of control.
“These gangs are targeting drop-offs at wealthy private schools, so police need to be there and be visible to stop this.”
Tim Loughton, a Tory MP and member of the home affairs select committee, said: “There is a role for intelligence-led policing here. If gangs are targeting Range Rover-driving parents going to private schools, there need to be sting operations”.
Mr Khan told The Telegraph: “Moped crime is frightening and intimidating and will not be tolerated on the streets of London – but tackling the rise in crime across Britain is getting increasingly difficult as a result of huge government cuts to the police and preventative services.
“The Home Secretary must walk the walk and give our police the funding they desperately need to do their job.”
A senior Tory MP also found himself caught up in the crime wave this week as he stepped in to tackle a man who was racially abusing a shopkeeper.
Johnny Mercer, a former Army captain, wrestled the man to the ground outside a shop in London on Wednesday evening. The man was reportedly trying to steal alcohol from the shop, said to happen on a regular basis.
Mr Mercer told the Daily Mail: “I simply did what anyone else would do when faced by a man throwing bottles and being racist towards a shopkeeper earning a living.”
It also emerged yesterday that a moped gang used “drill” music to boast about stabbing their rivals. A court heard Micah Bedeau, 19, Yonas Girma, 21, Isaac Marshall, 18, and two 17-yearolds, who cannot be identified, had an array of weapons when they were arrested in Notting Hill, west London.
They were planning an attack on a rival gang from Shepherd’s Bush in retaliation for an incident involving the grandmother of two of their members.
A Youtube video had reportedly been posted showing a Snapchat broadcast of the grandmother being harassed, abused and threatened by members of the rival gang.
Detective Superintendent Adam Lowe said: “The lyrics referenced several real and often violent events.
“Their aim was purely to glorify gangs and violence.”