Thieves run up £1,500 bill on iPhone... and 'badly beaten' teenage victim pays

 
NIGEL HOWARD, JACK MALONE
Pavan Amara2 October 2013
WEST END FINAL

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A family has been hit with a £1,500 mobile bill after thieves snatched an iPhone from a teenager while he was on holiday and dialled dozens of international numbers.

Jack Malone, 18, said he was badly beaten after chasing the pickpockets in Barcelona. Now he and mother Karen, 51, say mobile phone firm Orange was “incredibly unhelpful” and unwilling to write off the entire debt because it was against company policy.

Orange says it has cut the bill to £890 as a “goodwill gesture”, and will not do more because the phone was not reported as stolen soon enough.

Mr Malone, a trainee surveyor from Enfield, said: “I was on holiday in Barcelona and two guys snatched it out of my pocket. I chased them but they beat me badly. I fell to the ground and injured my hand. There was lots of bruises and bleeding.”

The £1,500 bill was racked in just 48 hours following the theft. On the day of the crime, Mr Malone flew back to Britain, without time to lodge a statement with Spanish police, and was treated at Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield.

He added: “My mum phoned Orange and told them what had happened. The member of staff could have no doubt it was stolen, she mentioned that word a number of times during the call.”

But Orange say that while they offered to stop the number and transfer it to a new phone, their records state the phone was not reported stolen during the call. A spokeswoman said: “We have halved the bill as a gesture of goodwill.”

“We have since been made aware of the circumstances surrounding the theft and we are speaking to the customer about any further help we can provide,”  she added.

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