DS mugged, contract phone involved - wwyd

[marriedinwhite]

Last night DS, 17, who up until now has believed there is no danger in London, although does tend to stick with a friend and is generally sensible and always keeps in touch, was mugged. He was with two friends and the attack took place in a dodgy area but they thought they would be fine. They handed over their phones and money but still got a punching. I knew something was wrong because he wasn't replying to my texts so stayed up until he came in, five minutes later than the agreed time.

He has learnt a hard lesson and was very upset. There were three attackers and they said they had knives though none were seen. He didn't want the police called and not sure what they could have done an hour or so after it happened when he couldn't provide a description anyway.

They have stolen a battered blackberry which is on contract with 7 months to run. I don't know if the supplier might let us change early or not - will pop down later having cancelled phone last night - to order a new sim.

Have decided overnight to get him a 2nd hand phone which I can get from Amazon for about £60. Have any of you done this and what would you do.

Oops I didn't notice, he got a hug when I saw him though.
I blame my phone, I nearly posted jig this time.

I prob wouldn't but used phones off amazon or eBay, but boxed new phones are generally ones that people get when they renew their contract, and decide they'd rather have the money.

The used ones tend to be people selling old phone when they get a new one

I think you can check the IME number of a phone to see if it is stolen, so you could ask the seller about this if you want a used phone. Someone would have to be pretty stupid to sell stolen phones online. It would be too easy to track them down.

To clarify, boxed used should be ok, especially if it still has all the bits like leads, charger etc.

It's the unboxed. Used, no accessories that is avoid, it might not be stolen, but loosing leads and stuff is often the sign of a careless owner, so it might have had a few knocks.

Please report to police. We were burgled and no evidence was found at all in our flat, but burglars were caught for another crime and confessed to ours and we got some stuff back that they found at their place. If we hadn't reported to police they would have never known it was ours. I'm sure my aunty got some compensation for some stuff she'd bought on her credit card when she was mugged once? So may be worth going down that route, but you will def need a crime ref for that, so report. Why does your ds not want to tell the police? Could he be covering for someone. Poor boy. I hope he is feeling less shaken up now. Police will also link you with victim support in case he wants to talk to someone about it.

Quick update. Yes, he was covering for someone, there had been some cannabis at the party and he didn't want to involve the boy or his family. DS and his mates left because they thought it was dodgy but went back after they were mugged on their way home and a couple of older boys took the three of them back to the station. He has learnt a hard lesson. His father is going to report it tomorrow as a matter of routine to get a crime reference number.

Have bought an entry PAYGO blackberry new from the contract shop. A second hand one began to sound like hassle and if it had been stolen didn't want to fuel more theft.

Your poor DS. I hope he feels better today?

I haven't read all the replies in this thread but wanted to add my voice to the many telling you to definitely report this.

My DS (11) was mugged earlier this year. Like your DS, he was of the opi nion that people were all lovely . He was threatened with stabbing (although no knife was produced). He was threatened with retribution if he told. Of course he did tell and I reported it. The police were brilliant and, because the mugging took place on a bus, they were able to gain cctv - although to date no arrest has been made. Tbh, I do not think this lad will get arrested for mugging my son, I just hope that when he does get pulled in he is tied to this mugging.

It is important that crimes get reported, even if they don't result in an arrest.

I was advised by the police that young people and school children were often targeted as they were often the ones with the fancy phones. We replaced DS's phone - with a £24.99 basic PAYG nokia which no-one would want. He also knows to hand it over if ever mugged again.

Also, it may be of interest that in the US people often have what they term, a muggers phone and wallet A crappy old phone and a wallet with a few notes in and a couple of expired cards - the muggers are often on their way before they realise they have nothing of worth.

Again, I send my sympathies for your DS. It is a horrible lesson for them to learn.

Thank roguepixie. Yes, you are right. We have already pulled out an old phone for nights out.

Just as a boring aside - you'll need to contact your network provide to get a bar on the sim so you bill doesn't get run up - hopefully you've done this allready, especially with you being on contract.

Unless the network are being nice you'll still have to pay the monthly contract fee whether you have the phone or now - so ask them to send a new sim and put the new contract sim in the handset you've just bought.

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