theres been a huge rise in the number of mobile phone thefts in Britain and young people are suffering the most

mobile thefts have leapt by five times in the past two years

half the victims are under 18 and the average age of the thief is just 16

500000 of these crimes are committed against children aged 11 15

Cinema attack

recently 10 children were attacked outside a cinema in southeast London by 40 teenagers who stole their phones

a spokesman from the Home Office which collects the figures said

A substantial chunk of the crimes are instances of playground bullying with kids stealing from other kids in school or just outside the school gates

the government wants phone makers to make it much harder to reuse mobiles once a thefts been reported but its hard to persuade them