Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway has shared a distressing incident where she became the victim of phone theft in London. In a conversation with Strictly Come Dancing’s Michelle Tsiakkas, who recently had her phone snatched from her hand, Kate disclosed that she had endured a similar experience. Michelle took to social media to recount how her phone was stolen while she was checking directions on her way to the dentist.
During this morning’s (Thursday, July 31), episode of Good Morning Britain, Michelle recounted: “Within about five to ten seconds of me taking it out, it was grabbed, gone. I’m generally quite aware as a person, I look around me, but you just can’t predict these things.”
Now, Michelle is urging Londoners to be extra cautious, reports the Mirror. She advised: “Pop into a shop, send directions, come back out.”
In the interview, which also featured a police officer discussing what actions to take if someone has their phone stolen in London, Kate opened up about her own ordeal and the lack of adequate response she felt she received from the police.
She expressed her frustration: “That has not been my experience. Is there something different if things are swiped off you physically? I’ve had phones stolen in London in a bag, I’ve tried to report it, and they’ve said, ‘Do you want the insurance code number?’ There was no sense that police were going to come, look at the area, see where it might be.”
As Michelle recounted her ordeal, she said: “I was quite traumatised, because it’s a shock, you don’t expect it, it’s an invasion of your personal space. When it happened, I felt like I lost the strength in my legs.”
Instead of contacting the police immediately, she prioritised cancelling her bank accounts and SIM card and informing her anxious mum about the incident before hurrying to her appointment.
Michelle had doubts about the usefulness of reporting the theft to the police, based on friends’ experiences where their stolen phones were never recovered. The ‘Strictly’ celebrity had previously expressed feeling “scared and helpless”.
On Instagram, she shared her feelings after the event: “This was a couple of days ago, and I’ve just about mentally recovered from that. It was quite traumatising on the day,” adding, “It wasted my whole day and made me feel awful, scared, helpless, and I don’t want the same to happen to you.”
Reflecting on the incident, she said: “My phone got stolen. I mean I see it happening all the time but it’s just one of those things that you just never think it’s gonna happen to you and then it does.”
Questioning whether she appeared as an “easy target”, she continued: “My heart just sank. I tried to like reach for it and that made me fall on my knees on the floor and graze my knee. I think my reflex was just to swear and then scream give me back my phone and clearly you know that didn’t work. He just left.”
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