A woman mugged in broad daylight on Primrose Hill for her jewellery has spoken out about the ordeal, which left her with huge bruises on her face and arm.
The woman, who did not wish to be named, told the Ham&High: “It’s just not worth the risk of wearing a watch or valuables.
“If speaking out means I can save one person from going through an attack then I will feel a whole lot better.”
The men took her by surprise while she was out walking with a friend on Monday at 3pm.
She was wearing a Rolex and earrings.
“My friend saw them barrelling into me, but we have no idea where they came from,” she said. “They pushed me into the iron railings to trap me between the gate and the bush.”
The woman explained her friend escaped to get help, but her attackers, one wearing a scarf over his face, demanded she hand over her Rolex watch. She refused, at which point the thieves turned violent, trying to rip her earrings out of her ears.
She added; “One slapped me round the face to emphasise his point, and I started desperately negotiating – telling them to take the watch, not the earrings.
“They had had enough of me by now and started pulling the watch off my wrist, giving up on the earrings. I screamed in pain but I managed to get the watch off – not before they had completely bruised my wrist. And then they were running off.”
Although she tried to run after her attackers, they escaped in a vehicle outside the Meadowbank exit of Primrose Hill.
She added: “I am not prepared to become a victim. However, in London today it’s just not worth the risk of wearing a watch or valuables.
“If speaking out means I can save one person from going through an attack then I will feel a whole lot better.”
The woman added that although the police officers she dealt with were excellent, they themselves told her crime was harder to stop as there weren’t enough police on the streets.
She said: ”It’s time something was done to make things safer. I am just another statistic, but according to our policeman there are simply not enough police on the beat to track down these urban hunters.”
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