Phone and bag snatcher who targeted lone women on Tube is jailed

Hasani Chakron, 27, of King’s Cross Road, Islington, was sentenced to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to stealing five phones, three bags and a laptop. 

He was part of a gang that lingered on platforms and Tube carriages, looking for vulnerable passengers to steal from. 

Prosecutor Matilda Robinson-Murphy said: “One woman was travelling home from work on the Piccadilly Line. 

“Three men, including the defendant, entered the carriage and just as the doors were closing and one man grabbed her phone and they all ran off the carriage.” 

On another occasion a woman was sitting opposite Chakron on the Piccadilly Line when he lunged at her and tried to grab her phone, Ms Robinson-Murphy said. 

The phone thefts all took place between December 2020 and January 2021 on the Piccadilly and Jubilee lines. 

Chakron was arrested on January 3, 2021, but denied being involved in the thefts. 

He accepted being present during two of the incidents, but said he was just holding the stolen phone because a friend had asked him to look after it. 

Chakron was released under investigation but he came to police attention in July 2022 when he stole a laptop from an employee at Costa Coffee in Westminster. 

Hasani Chakron (Image: BTP)

Ms Robinson-Murphy said: “At 4pm two men entered the Costa Coffee and sat at a table with their own food and drink. 

“The store manager informed them they cannot use the tables without buying anything. The manager later went for a lunch break and when he returned he noticed his laptop had been taken from his bag. 

“The manager tracked his laptop to another Costa Coffee in Finsbury Station, where he found Chakron and confronted him. When he started filming Chakron, he was handed his laptop back.” 

Three months later Chakron was at it again, this time targeting people at bars and pubs in the city. 

In October and November 2022 he stole three bags. 

When he was arrested and interviewed about these thefts he said he was out of the country at the time. 

However, Chakron later pleaded guilty to nine thefts and two attempted thefts. 

Reprsenting Chakron at Inner London Crown Court on Wednesday (January 10), barrister James Higbee explained that the motive for the thefts had been his client's addiction to crack cocaine. 

He said that since being remanded in custody Chakron had completed a drugs course and is now drug free. 

“Whatever he was up to during those years, it’s not something he wants to be involved in anymore,” Mr Higbee said. 

“He is an asylum seeker. He was living in a black economy, as he wasn’t allowed to work in this country. These are just explanations of course, but nobody should resort to what he did.” 

Judge Rosina Cottage KC sentenced Chakron to two years in prison.