General · 30 March 2026
Police solve less than 1% of phone thefts
Phone theft victims across England and Wales rarely see a charge, with less than one per cent of cases solved. The Liberal Democrats obtained data for 2024-25 revealing that just 0.82 per cent of 86,000 reported thefts across 17 forces resulted in a charge. Independent data for the Metropolitan Police is not available to confirm these figures; however, broader statistics indicate that police investigations for 'theft from the person' generally see a high percentage closed without a suspect, and a low charge rate.
Reported by The Telegraph · How we write briefs