Fabian Pawlowski, 22, of Banstead, Surrey, has been jailed for four and a half years after he forced three young men to hand over their phones during a robbery spree on the London Underground.
Pawlowski was sentenced at Harrow Crown Court on Friday, October 9, after pleading guilty to three counts of robbery and two counts of possession of a bladed article at an earlier hearing. The offences took place between April 27 and May 15.
Metropolitan Line Robbery
The court heard that at around 1.40pm on Monday, April 27, Pawlowski boarded a Metropolitan Line train at Harrow-on-the-Hill station. He fist-bumped a man and sat opposite him before asking if he could use his mobile phone to make a call. The man reluctantly handed over his phone, and Pawlowski then got off the train at Northwick Park.
The victim followed Pawlowski, asking for his phone back. He was punched in the face and then left after spotting what he believed to be a knife in Pawlowski's fist.
Further Attacks on the Network
Three days later, on April 30, Pawlowski returned to Harrow-on-the-Hill station and walked up to a man before shoving his hand into the man's jeans pocket. The victim was threatened and, believing he was going to be stabbed, let him take his phone, which was worth over £1,000.
On May 15, Pawlowski approached a man on a Jubilee line train travelling between Canning Town and North Greenwich. He began eyeing up the man's phone and became aggressive, then pulled two blades out of his pocket. Pawlowski took the phone and left the train.
Arrest and Sentencing
Pawlowski was identified by British Transport Police (BTP) detectives after they circulated a wanted appeal using CCTV stills. He was arrested by patrolling BTP officers at Stratford station on June 16. He pleaded guilty to the charges in July after he was shown a file of evidence, including CCTV footage linking him to each of the robberies.
BTP Detective Constable Olesia Berdova said: "Pawlowski is a serial offender who set out to intimidate his victims, using threatening language as well as a knife to force his victims to hand over their mobile phones."
Berdova added: "Pawlowski's actions have caused significant distress and fear and I am pleased that he will now spend a substantial amount of time behind bars."
She said: "BTP has been working hard to reduce the number of robberies across the railway network in recent years, and this case demonstrates that when they do still occur, we will never let up in the fight to take down robbers. Every report of robbery is taken extremely seriously, and I urge anyone who is the victim of, or witness to, this offending to report it to us by texting 61016."
