A terrified Playboy model has told how muggers snatched her mobile phone and then slashed the face of another victim who tried to fight back.
Russian beauty Maria Liman, 29, was walking in Bermondsey, in southeast London when a man on a bike snatched her phone while she walked in the street.
Then despite her screams for help, she says, he cycled across the road and attacked a second girl to get her phone too. The second victim had started to resist when he slashed her face and fled in the attack on Friday, 14th April.
Astonishingly, brave Maria, who has over 1.1 million Instagram followers, gave chase. She said it was the second time she has been mugged, both times on almost the same spot.
Maria – a diehard Chelsea football fan but originally from Rostov, Russia – said: “I held the phone very close to me and was holding it with both hands. And then I just couldn’t believe it, again! Again! They stole my phone, only this time the man was on a bicycle, wearing a black helmet and black clothes.”
She added: “I started screaming very loudly, asking people to help me and ran after him, all the way I kept screaming to get attention. I am very glad that people in London are so responsive and always come to help. There were not many people on the street.
“The robber on the bike didn’t really care about my screams and my chasing and went to the other side of the road to pick up another girl’s phone.”
Maria said: “She heard me and turned around. She obviously did not want to give the phone to the robber, they started to fight.
“He fell off the bike, took out a knife and cut the girl’s face during the fight and eventually took the phone. I continued to run and scream all this time, and another young man came running.”
Maria added: “The robber ended up abandoning his bike. We almost caught up with him and he threw four phones away. And there was my phone.
“Other guys chased the robber to the river, on the way he dropped his helmet and his jacket, where there were four more phones. That morning, the guy had collected more than eight phones.”
Maria said that the injured girl, whose idenтιтy remains unclear, was then taken to hospital. She said: “The injured girl was taken to the hospital, there were about ten witnesses and two black cabs with cameras on the spot. I really hope they find him.”
This is not even the first time the gorgeous model has had her phone grabbed. Maria said: “I live next to Tower Bridge. This is quite a touristy place and, as always, crime thrives in touristy places.
“Many people, after a stolen phone, do not go to the police, because they think that it is useless and they still won’t find the phone. I would really like this information to help people in the future.
“The first time my phone was stolen was on the way from Tower Hill station to Tower Castle in an underpᴀss. My phone was not found and neither was the robber. There was nothing on the camera and there were no witnesses either. I saw the robber, he pulled my phone out of my pocket and my laptop out of my backpack.
“At first I couldn’t believe it happened. While I stood in shock, he managed to calmly go forward, although he robbed me from behind.”
And she also said that she hopes people will speak up and report crimes when they are victims of them, adding that London is becoming increasingly dangerous.
She said: “I would like to ask people not to be silent about such situations, to report to the police, to attract people’s attention. London is becoming more dangerous, and so you can lose your life or your beautiful face in the morning calmly going to work because of the phone.”
Newsflash obtained a statement from the Metropolitan Police in London on Monday, 17th April, saying: “At around 11:41hrs on Friday, 14 April police were called to a report of an ᴀssault on Tooley Street, Southwark.
“Officers attended and spoke to a woman, aged in her 20s, who said she had been walking along Bermondsey Street when her phone was stolen out of her hand by two men on pedal cycles, causing her to fall over. She managed to chase one of the men down the road before he pushed her into a wall, causing an injury to her head.
“The suspect fell off his bike and made off on foot, discarding several mobile phones as he did so. A number of other thefts and attempted thefts were reported at similar times nearby. Detectives are investigating; enquiries are ongoing.”