Tory Councillor Mugged In North London – Police Hunting For ‘Black Man In Late Teens’

Enfield councillor Chris Joannides has been mugged while out canvassing for an upcoming by-election.

The Conservative Councillor, who represents Southgate, was canvassing in South Tottenham at the weekend in preparation for this week’s Haringey Council by-election.

While out door-knocking, the Councillor stopped to input canvassing data into his mobile phone when a young thief snatched it from his hands.

The male culprit rode his mountain bike on to the pavement to steal to grab the device, and the Councillor was left uninjured.

Cllr Joannides, however, says that the stolen phone, a Samsung Galaxy S22, contained a large a number of photos that were not backed up, including of his newborn son, and friends who have died.

Cllr Joannides said: “I am devastated about what happened, it’s the family photos including friends we lost last year that bothers me.

“I was walking on Broad Lane while on the campaign trail and inputting canvassing data on the phone, when a thief riding on a mountain bike rode on the pavement and snatched the phone.

“Although I gave chase, he rode off towards Tottenham Hale.

The thief made off with the Councillor Joannides’ Samsung Galaxy S22.

“The phone is two years ago and scheduled for an upgrade, however it has sentimental value as I have over 2,000 photos stored on it including the birth of my baby boy, Raphael and family and friends I lost in the that period.

“The police told me the likelihood is that the phone has probably been tossed away somewhere given its age and hopefully it will be picked up by a good Samaritan and handed over to a police station.”

Police have described the thief as a young black man in his late teens or early twenties. He wore a black and blue jacket, black jogging trousers, black trainers, black cap and was riding a black mountain bike. Any with information should contact police on 101, quoting reference number 282 5809/23.

Cllr Joannides came to national attention in 2014 after being expelled for one year for sharing a ‘bigoted’ social media post.

An investigation found that the image her shared of Facebook depicted a woman and a child dressed in burqas, standing between two bin bags.

It was captioned: “I saw her standing there and I told her she had three beautiful children. She didn’t have to get all pissed off and threaten me. It was an honest mistake!”

Speaking on London Greek Radio (LGR) 103.3FM, he said: “I’ve had very, very good comments, many people are in support of me including people from the Muslim community, including the Turkish-Cypriot community across London.

“People saying to me that’s hilarious, we don’t find that offensive it’s political correctiveness that’s gone wrong.”