In just one night Peter Abdel Ogunsakin stole nearly 20 mobile phones in Shoreditch worth more than £15,00), according to police.  Ogunsakin, a 45-year-old man from Stockwell Gardens Estate, Lambeth, admitted committing the crime and has been jailed.

Police found him with four mobile phones, one with a woman’s name on it, after he failed to stop for police in a routine traffic stop on April 6 last year. They later found out that the mobile phone belonged to a woman which he had stolen from her in a club early that morning on the same day.

The police arrested him on suspicion of handling stolen goods. They searched his car and found further 18 mobile phones which were hidden the backseat and in the front passenger footwell underneath the car mat.

At first Ogunsakin denied that he had stolen the mobile phones and claimed that they belong to a friend’s friend who had left the phones in his car while he was eating a kebab. He denied having been anywhere near Shoreditch that night and also told the police that he had bought two phones for cash on the street from a stranger without receiving a receipt, but evidence disproved his alibi.

Officers traced 17 victims whose phones had been stolen that night in different nightclubs and bars in Shoreditch. They viewed the CCTV from five venues and caught Ogunsakin on film on four of the places. In one of the videos he was caught with his hand inside a female’s bag.

PC Barry Ward, the investigating officer from the Met’s Roads and Transport Policing Command, said:

“I am delighted the overwhelming evidence collected in this investigation by my team resulted in Ogunsakin pleading guilty. It is extremely rewarding to know the enquiries we carried out enabled us to return more than £15,000 worth of stolen mobile phones to 17 victims. Many of the phones had priceless photographs on them the victims’ may have never been able to retrieve”.

He added: “Ogunsakin went out that night on a pick-pocketing spree, and he did not care about the upset his actions would cause the victims.This case should act as a reminder to revellers to be aware of their surroundings whilst they are enjoying a night out.”