Mugger gives victim his own phone

A MUGGER who handed over his own mobile phone to his victim has received a six-month prison sentence thanks to his own foolhardiness. The handset still had all of his personal information store on it.

"When the victim asked what he was supposed to do without a phone, Eneas Tanyongana decided to hand over his own phone, complete with contact details and photos," said Detective Constable Jon Pine.

The 16 year old had been sitting on the train when Tanyongana tried to befriend him by asking to look at his phone, but when he asked for it back he was told, "No. You've been robbed."

This wasn't the first time the mugger had tried to part a victim from his phone. He'd previously grabbed a disabled man by the throat for refusing to hand his handset over.

In a complete understatement, DC Pine observed, "It's a nice boost to the investigation when key pieces of the puzzle have already been laid out for you. " Obviously the rozzers looked up 'Mum' in his phone book and asked where he lived!

The moral of the story is remember to delete all the personal information before you hand a phone over to its new owner, especially if you are a mugger.

One way is to open the addressbook; select the option to mark all the entries; and then select delete. Don't forget to do the same thing with text messages (including sent messages), too.

On some Nokia handsets typing in *#7370# and following that with the password 12345 will wipe the phone clean. µ

L'Inq
Hertfordshire Mercury