Athlete’s phone snatched by thieves in London – but she sprints to get it back

It’s not everyday that a phone snatcher meets their match.

But one runner managed to do just that after sprinting after the thief who stole her phone.

Elizabeth Lopez Aguilar, 24, was filming a TikTok while on holiday in London when a man snatched her phone right from under her nose.

The US citizen was in the city celebrating her boyfriend’s birthday, heading to see Hercules on the West End, when the theft occurred.

But the thief had no idea he had just targeted the amateur track athlete, who specialises in sprinting and long-distance running.

Within minutes, Elizabeth and her boyfriend chased the man down and retrieved the phone.

Elizabeth, from Texas, said: ‘At first I was laughing because I thought it was my boyfriend playing a prank. But then I realised it was real.

‘I was shocked but immediately kicked into full gear.’

A lifelong sports enthusiast, Elizabeth has spent the past two years taking her training to the next level, competing in sprint and Olympic-distance triathlons and currently training for an Ironman.

Elizabeth said: ‘I genuinely think the thief had no idea who he was messing with.

‘I immediately went into running mode and wouldn’t stop until the guy was caught.’

Elizabeth’s boyfriend joined the chase, and together they cornered the thief.

She said: ‘I thought it was a prank at first but immediately sprung into action and chased after him.

‘My boyfriend had also noticed and ran after him with me.

‘We caught him quickly after I was able to grab his arm and take the phone back.

‘We didn’t pursue any addition legal action or call the police as the man did not fight back and immediately left once we recovered the phone.’

According to London’s Metropolitan Police, the latest figures show that 117,211 phones were stolen during 2024, external. In 2019, 91,481 were – a rise of 25%. Only 1% of these cases led to charges or convictions.

Sir Mark Rowley said he accepted London had a problem with mobile phone thefts but claimed police had ‘turned the corner’ on and were bringing figures down.

He told Nick Ferrari on LBC: ‘Phone theft is a big issue. We have turned the corner (on phone thefts). The footfall in the west End was up in December Londoners felt safe we are making progress.’

He said the latest figures shows a drop of a sixth non mobile phone thefts.

Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said he wants to increase council tax for certain house bands to raise the extra cash needed to tackle the problem.

It could see bills by more than £20 a year on the average Band D bill to give police the money they need, the Mayor said.

City Hall said if the plans were approved, the move would allow it to offer record investment in policing next year of £1.22bn.

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