Martin Lewis’ wife was left "terrified" after a mugger on a motorbike stole her mobile phone.
The MoneySavingExpert.com founder – who has regularly given out financial advice on ‘Good Morning Britain’ and ‘This Morning’ – was left shaken after his significant other, BBC Click presenter Lara Lewington, had her gadget swiped from her by a motorbike passenger while she was walking along a street, but fortunately the phone was later returned to her.
Martin wrote on Twitter: "Last night a moped swerved to the curb & passenger snatched Mrs MSE’s mobile. Shaken, I called police to report. 15mins later a kind cyclist called, he’d found it in road. We got it back. (sic)"
Lara took to Instagram to reveal her phone had been smashed during the theft, but luckily the cyclist found the abandoned gadget and rang the "home" number, before arranging to return it to her.
She posted a picture of the phone, and wrote: "Smashed after motorbike snatch and grab theft, but not so smashing it seems – I got it back.
"Last night whilst out walking, a motorcycle swerved at speed, and the pillion rider grabbed my phone out of my hand. As I felt someone behind me, for a split second I’d thought it was an accident happening and hoped the person was okay, then by the time I could turn around my phone was gone – with terrifying pace and accuracy. So focussed on mask and hand sanitising these days, I guess I’d forgotten to be so vigilant about this. Obviously I was immediately grateful not to be hurt, and that my daughter wasn’t there to witness it – just a bit gutted I’d lost so many photos after a series of inexplicable backup fails.
"After my husband called the police (whilst I mentally figured out the frustrating and time consuming admin I’d need to do), shockingly via a call ‘home’ he got a message from a kind cyclist who had found the phone minutes later (thieves had dumped it) – and despite how damaged it was, and the coronavirus risk, had picked it up and tried to find its owner.
"Despite some initial weariness, we explained, to his shock, what had happened and asked if he’d meet us in a busy place. He was happy to. We jumped in a black cab to get there, told Junior the cabbie the story (he was outraged, and kindly decided to wait with us whilst we checked this wasn’t part two of the scam). But when we got there, Sam the cyclist, was an honest nice man, and returned my phone. The screen smashed, but the photos intact. Police report updated.
"The moral of the story? Have an old smartphone that not even a thief thinks is worth having. (sic)"
On the phone it could be seen that Lara had 7,003 unread emails, but she reassured fans she has read them on her laptop instead.
She added: "(And yes, it does say 7003 e-mails, who’d want to deal with them (don’t worry I have dealt with them all on laptop)?!) (sic)"