Invisible marker spray helps snare scooter mugger

A thief was caught thanks to a pioneering forensic spray deployed to tackle moped thugs
AFP/Getty Images
Justin Davenport27 March 2018
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A thief has admitted a scooter crime mugging spree after he was caught thanks to a pioneering forensic spray deployed to tackle the thugs on two wheels plaguing London’s streets.

Spencer Duarte, 21, admitted stealing a scooter, seven counts of theft, driving while uninsured and disqualified and absconding from custody when he appeared at Blackfriars crown court.

The court heard that Duarte, from Stansted, Essex, grabbed seven phones in just one hour, targeting pedestrians in Islington, Covent Garden and New Oxford Street, between 10pm and 11pm on February 8 this year.

Duarte came to police attention last year after officers found two abandoned scooters in Camden and Haringey, both of which had been marked with the invisible spray.

Each can has a unique chemical formula so can be linked to a specific incident and is fired by officers from a trigger-operated gun at suspects they cannot pursue. It clings to clothing and equipment and remains detectable for several weeks. Duarte, a known scooter-related crime suspect with numerous convictions, was found hiding in a cupboard at his girlfriend’s flat in Islington. Jade Clapham, 18, admitted assisting an offender. Both will be sentenced on May 16.

On his arrest, Duarte complained of stomach pains and was taken to hospital but escaped from custody as he was being transferred to a police station. He was found a week later on February 22 hiding at a friend’s home in Camden. Police recovered 13 phones and found Duarte’s fingerprints on one of them.

New statistics show there were 24,356 moped and scooter offences in 2017 — around 66 a day — compared with a total of 9,283 in 2016. However the Met said the rate of offences fell significantly in November after the spray was launched in October, along with other measures such as stinger devices to puncture tyres and scrambler bikes for police to pursue suspects.

Duarte was convicted in 2016 for his part in a £50,000 raid on a Louis Vuitton store in Sloane Street. He was sentenced to 13 months in a young offenders institute for conspiracy to handle stolen goods.

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