Prolific phone-snatcher jailed after morning spree

Bodycam footage showed City of London Police officers finding cash and phones on Oliver Brady

A prolific mobile phone thief who was caught with a blind woman's stolen device during a morning crime spree has been jailed – after being taken down by a ceremonial beadle.

Oliver Brady, 27, of Edmonton, north London, was sentenced to two years and three months at the Old Bailey on Friday after admitting to a string of offences.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and seven counts of handling stolen goods, as well as driving without a licence or insurance and breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order.

He was also found guilty of assaulting assistant beadle Alex South, who helped detain him outside Haberdashers' Hall in the City of London.

The role is now symbolic, but a beadle was a lay official of a church or synagogue who would keep order

One of the phones in Brady's possession belonged to a blind woman who had it snatched from her hand earlier in the day, causing her to fall to the ground.

Brady, riding an illegal electric bike, was stopped by security staff at Haberdashers' Hall who had seen him grab a phone from a passer-by.

During the struggle, he punched one of the guards and began discarding the phones he was carrying.

He was arrested at the scene and found with a quantity of cash and tinfoil – which the court heard can be used to wrap phones to stop them being tracked.

He claimed he used the foil to wrap his knee.

A "considerable amount" of cash was found on Brady, police said

Defending, Malcolm Duxbury accepted his client "had an appalling criminal record" but said Brady had turned to crime after his hopes of becoming a professional footballer were brought to an end when he was stabbed.

Brady became reliant on heroin and cocaine and funded his addiction by snatching phones, the court heard.