Mobile phone distraction theft caught on CCTV

A thief who toured the country to steal mobile phones from people as they ate at restaurants has been jailed.

Nirix Stanescu, 24, was caught on CCTV in a fast food outlet in Reading and police have released the footage as a warning to others.

She distracted her nine victims before walking off with their phones across the south of England between May and July.

She placed a map or other paperwork over the phones before distracting the victims and walking off with them.

Stanescu, of no fixed address, stole in Staines-upon-Thames, Walton-on-Thames and Woking in Surrey, in Milton Keynes, in Reading, Slough and Wokingham in Berkshire and in Oxford.

Stanescu was jailed by magistrates in Reading

She admitted nine counts of theft at a hearing at Reading Magistrates' Court on 27 September and jailed for eight months.

Det Con Michael Hanson, of Thames Valley Police, said: "This case is a timely reminder of the risks involved in leaving property in full view.

“I would advise people to keep their property close at hand, or out of sight, in order to prevent opportunists such as Stanescu targeting them.”