Moment pickpocket swipes lady’s purse inside Selfridges after she positioned it on seat as she waited to be served
This is the moment a brazen pickpocket swiped an unsuspecting woman’s handbag inside Selfridges as she waited to be served.
The shocking incident – which happened during the Met Police‘s Christmas crackdown – took place on Oxford Street in central London last Saturday.
The victim had been sitting inside the department store, which is one of the busiest shops in the country, waiting to be served and had placed her handbag on the seat behind her.
CCTV footage shows the thief, who looked like an ordinary shopper, peering around her to see who was watching her before she then seizes the opportunity to swipe the handbag.
The pickpocketer then calmly walks away with it in her hand.
The bold theft happened despite more than 100 additional officers being deployed to the streets to tackle anti-social behaviour in London’s West End, which is London’s hotspot for pickpocketing, ahead of Christmas.
Known as Operation Baselife, the Met are hoping to tackle offences including shoplifting and phone theft.
Over the past seven days, the force has arrested over 140 people across the West End as as a part of the operation.
CCTV footage shows the thief, who looked like an ordinary shopper, peering around her to see who was watching her
The pickpocketer then seizes her opportunity to swipe the handbag before she calmly walks away
In one instance, two thieves trying to swipe phones from women at a Leicester Square ice rink were stopped on November 4 after plain-clothes officers searched the men and found several stolen devices on them, with one returned to its owner.
And video footage released by the Met shows the pair being arrested following a campaign of phone-snatching.
Standing in a busy street dressed in padded jackets, the duo are stopped by officers, one of whom says: ‘It looks like you’ve made multiple attempts to try to nick phones from people.’
They then discover a mobile as they place handcuffs on the alleged thieves and ask: ‘Is it your phone? Whose phone is it then?’
‘I don’t know,’ one replies.
The officer adds, ‘Where did you get them from?’, to which the arrested man responds: ‘I found them…here…after I heard someone calling it.’
They then pour the collection of phones into a bag and lead the pair away from the packed scene.
The Met Police has been approached for comment.
