Mugger who left phone at scene of crime caught after asking police if it had been handed in

A mugger who dropped his mobile phone at the scene of a frightening street attack was caught when he rang the police to try and get it back. Paul Knight had grabbed his victim’s handbag strap as she walked in Farringdon, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, with her husband at night and dragged her to the ground, leaving her bruised and scared.

When the 25-year-old later realised he had dropped his phone during the struggle, he called the police to see if he could get it back. As a result of his call, Knight, of Sunderland, was arrested. At Newcastle Crown Court on Friday he was jailed for two years and four months after pleading guilty to robbery. During the hearing Knight was branded “stupid”, “incompetent” and “unsophisticated”.



Judge Edward Bindloss told him: “You dropped your mobile phone and in a rather unsophisticated act you telephoned the police and inquired if someone had handed it in. That is how you came to be arrested.” The judge said he was satisfied Knight, who had been trying to raise money to pay off a £500 cocaine debt, was sorry for what he did to his victim. Knight has previous convictions, but has never been to prison before.

His barrister, Tony Hawks, told the court: “The defendant attacked a woman who was with her husband, he didn’t disguise his identity, he had no weapon, he was incompetent enough to drop his mobile phone, and then sufficiently stupid to go and inquire with the police where his mobile phone might be. It does not suggest someone likely to make a successful career as a street robber.” The court heard the victim, who lost more than £530 in property and cash, has been left “wary” of even being at home after her ordeal, and lives in fear of being confronted again.