Streeting queries police dropping McSweeney phone theft inquiry

Streeting added the theft should “absolutely” have been reported to the permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office, Cat Little, and it is understood the Cabinet Office does have some of the messages between McSweeney and Lord Mandelson.

The Met is now reassessing available evidence for the alleged phone theft, following the discovery that officers had recorded the wrong address at the time McSweeney reported a crime.

The Met has now released a full transcript of the call, which was received shortly before 22:30 BST.

McSweeney is recorded as saying someone on a push bike “just robbed my phone”, adding: “He’s come onto the pavement to grab my phone and cycled off on a bike.”

Describing the thief, McSweeney said he was a slim, black man of average height in his late teens, and later added that he had chased him down the street and then lost him in a park.

McSweeney told the handler the device is “a government phone”, that “I rang my office to get the phone tracked and then I rang you”, and that he was “definitely” willing to make a statement to police.

The incorrect location was recorded because McSweeney told the call handler the alleged crime had happened in Belgrave Street in Westminster, but the correct street name is actually Belgrave Road.

The Met has advised the error came about because the call handler pulled up a matching Belgrave Street in Tower Hamlets.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “On Monday October 20 police received a report from a man in his 40s alleging that his phone had been snatched.

“The incident was recorded as having taken place in Belgrave Street, E1.

“A review of the allegation, including a consideration of whether there was available CCTV, did not identify any realistic lines of inquiry. The investigation was subsequently closed.

“In the course of responding to a recent media inquiry, we became aware that the address was entered incorrectly at the time of the initial call and should instead have been recorded as Belgrave Road, Pimlico.

“Having identified this error, the report will be amended and the assessment of whether there is available evidence revisited.”

The Met has advised that, at the time, the officers allocated to the case made two attempts to phone McSweeney during working hours and there was no answer.

They reviewed CCTV in the area but didn’t identify any realistic lines of enquiry.