Heavily pregnant woman targeted by moped phone mugger in Queensbridge Road, Haggerston
Lucy Werner is eight-and-a-half months pregnant - Credit: lucy werner
A pregnant woman just two weeks from her due date has warned others about muggers on mopeds, after a thug mounted the pavement and tried to rip her phone from her hands.
Lucy Werner was walking home from work and listening to music on her iPhone in Queensbridge Road, Haggerston, on Thursday when she heard the roar of the thief’s motorbike coming from behind.
“He managed to rip the phone out of my headset, but I screamed and yanked my arm back,” she said.
“I don’t know if being pregnant stopped him from being more violent or if he targeted me because I was pregnant.
“My hand wasn’t out on the street. It was tucked in and tightly gripped in the palm of my hand, which makes me think I had probably been targeted and he circled back, because he wouldn’t have seen the phone from behind.”
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Ms Werner, who runs a PR consultancy, continued: “I’m not particularly a hard girl but because I was pregnant I felt so fragile afterwards. I thought he could have pulled me over or pushed me over. I’m not very fast on my feet at the moment.
“Although I’m fine it was naturally very shocking and I can’t believe they are targeting pregnant women. There is just no shame.”
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Moped and bicycle phone muggings are on the rise, with about 12 a day being stolen in Hackney alone.
Ms Werner was already aware of the crime, but assumed people were usually targeted on busier streets or outside Tube stations.
“Queensbridge Road is a quiet, residential street, and there are so many school kids on their phones not thinking anything,” she said.
Last year Patience Chukwu was punched in the face by a mugger who stole her phone as she tried to call her family to tell them she was going into labour. Her son now suffers with seizures that police say are a result of the attack.
