Man arrested for handling McSweeney's stolen phone

Metropolitan Police officers arrested a 28-year-old man in Peckham, south London, on suspicion of handling stolen goods after he allegedly received and sold a government-issued mobile phone belonging to Morgan McSweeney, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The arrest occurred on Wednesday at a local address, where the suspect was taken into custody before being bailed pending further inquiries. Authorities emphasized that the man is not suspected of involvement in the original theft, and the phone has not been recovered.

The device was stolen on October 20, 2025, from Belgrave Road in Pimlico, central London. McSweeney reported the incident via a 999 call shortly after a man on a bicycle snatched the phone from him on the pavement. He informed the call handler that it was a government device and said he had briefly chased the thief but could not catch up. Due to a miscommunication over the street name, which was logged as Belgrave Street in east London's Tower Hamlets area rather than Belgrave Road in Westminster, no officers were dispatched, and the case was closed after McSweeney received a crime reference number.

The investigation reopened earlier this year...