Prolific thief jailed after riding moped through market in bid to evade police
A prolific mobile phone thief who forced pedestrians to scatter as he rode his moped at speed through a street market in England has been jailed for more than three years, Scotland Yard said.
Cavell Hutson, 21, tried to evade police by riding through the packed shopping area in Hackney, east London, after an hour-long crime spree spanning five London boroughs.
He and an accomplice abandoned the vehicle - which had false number plates - in Kingsland Market before running off, in scenes caught on camera by a police helicopter overhead on September 3.
Hutson, of Highbury New Park in nearby Islington, was arrested a few streets away and 21 stolen mobile phones were found in his clothes and a bag he was carrying. His accomplice remains at large.
Hutson was jailed for three years and four months on Monday, Scotland Yard said on Thursday.
He admitted 21 counts of mobile phone theft and one of dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.
Scotland Yard said officers from Operation Attrition, which focuses on mobile snatch-thefts, found the owners of all 21 phones and returned them.
Hutson's crime spree targeted people in Camden, Islington, Hackney, Westminster and Tower Hamlets between 1pm and 2pm that day.
Detective Chief Inspector Steve Heatley said: "This was an excellent result, which has seen a perpetrator of an audacious crime, which not only endangered members of the public but himself and his accomplice, receive a robust jail sentence.
"These criminals are often involved in a range of other offences. When we catch them we seek to bring far more serious charges against them, which reflect the organised nature of their crimes and ensure the sentencing powers available reflect the seriousness of the offending."
