Tube ban for pickpocket who targeted women in rush hour phone theft spree

Ban: Donald Hunnygen has been told he must not use the Tube between the hours of 8-10am and 5-7pm
Andy Rain/EPA
Paul Cheston20 November 2015
WEST END FINAL

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A pickpocket who stole £1,630 of smart phones in just one week from female rush hour commuters has been banned from the Tube.

Donald Hunnygen, 49, snatched a £400 Sony Xperia Z mobile on September 16 from a woman travelling on the Northern Line between Kennington and Oval, Westminster Magistrates Court heard.

The following week he struck twice again, pocketing a £500 iPhone 5S at Bank station on September 21, and a £730 iPhone 6 the following day at London Bridge station.

Prosecutor Edward Aydin said: “This happened at rush hour. People are literally crushed at these times and in the crowds it is very easy to target people.

A £400 Sony Xperia Z, one of the phones taken
Sony

“These three very expensive telephones are easily likely to be sold on.

“If you look at the second-hand value of all those phones you could get very good prices to sell them off to anybody.”

Hunnygen, of Lambeth, who has a long record of previous convictions for theft, received a six-month suspended sentence for theft in 2009.

He has now been convicted of three counts of theft and will be sentenced on November 24.

Chair of the bench Carolyn Mishon warned him: “You are not to travel on the London Underground between the hours of 8-10am and 5-7pm, but not on the 24 November when you have to come to court.”

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