Miranda Bryant20 February 2014
Pickpockets and bag snatchers travel up to 17 miles to busy areas to carry out thefts, the Home Office has revealed.
It said women aged 18 to 24 were most likely to be victims of the thieves, who preferred to strike on weekday afternoons and weekend evenings in pubs and clubs. Pickpockets — who had an average age of 32 — targeted people on their own and those who had been drinking, while 25 per cent of victims had their mobile phone stolen, said the department’s paper.
It also revealed that thefts from the person rose by seven per cent to 110,000 incidents in the year ending last September, with more than half of these committed in London.
