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Mobile Phones: Theft

Asked by Jim McMahonLabour (Co-op)Home OfficeTabled Answered 28 November 2025UIN 92150

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many mobile phones were stolen in the most recent year for which data is available; and how many of those were recovered.

Answered by Sarah Jones

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provides estimates of the number of people who were the victim of mobile phone theft. In the most recent year for which data is available (year ending March 2024), an estimated 235,000 people in England and Wales were the victim of mobile phone theft in the previous 12 months. Data for previous years is available as part of the Property crime tables (Table 13) published by the Office for National Statistics, at the link below:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables

The CSEW cannot provide an estimate of the number of stolen mobile phones which were later recovered.

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