Hackney hamburgling handbag thief jailed for McDonald’s swoop
Crook caught by cops from DNA on cigarette
A HANDBAG thief who targeted a 76-year-old woman as she ate in McDonald’s has been jailed for two years.
Kevin Joseph, 47, of Chatham Place, Hackney Central, swiped the victim’s handbag as she sat down in the restaurant in Mare Street at 11.30am on November 30 2010.
Joseph, who is known to police as a prolific offender, sat at a table behind the woman who realised a short while later her handbag was gone.
Hackney Police searched the area and found the bag but all the cash, a bank card and bus pass had gone.
Officers traced Joseph using CCTV and DNA from a cigarette he left behind and arrested him on December 16.
He was found guilty of theft at Thames Magistrates Court on January 17 and jailed for two years on Friday January 28.
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PC Sam Kelland of Hackney’s Case Progression Unit, said: “Tackling serial offenders is a key priority for us. This incident has made the victim wary of going out and so I’m very pleased that Joseph has been imprisoned.
“Property theft can have a devastating impact on the victim, particularly those who are elderly or vulnerable, and this result shows just how seriously we investigate any such incident reported to us.”
