Police hunt for taxi driver who 'stole' iPhoneSTUDENT Lewis Emmanuel has called in police after claiming a 'thieving' taxi driver drove off with his £520 new iPhone 5s in the back of his cab.
The 19-year-old says he agreed to leave the phone with the driver as insurance after falling £4 short to pay his fare and ran into his house to get the extra cash.
But he claims he returned to find the taxi and his phone had gone from outside his Silverdale home.
Now Staffordshire Police are trying to track down the phone and the driver because the taxi was not pre-booked.
A tracking device has discovered the phone has been carried through Tunstall Park – but police and Lewis drew a blank when they went there.
Keele University student Lewis said: "I was really angry. It didn't even cross my mind that the driver might drive off with my phone.
"I had only bought the phone that day. I didn't have insurance as I was going to buy it the next day but I didn't get the chance.
"I went to the police station and then to the park.
"I went to Tunstall Park and searched but I couldn't find it anywhere. The new iPhone 5s has a fingerprint lock on it, so it would have been useless to anyone trying to unlock it. They must have dumped it but we couldn't find it. I was really gutted."
Mum Anita Lewis, aged 42, said: "It's disgusting. Lewis felt like he had been mugged. He was really distraught when he came home.
"Lewis is a caring, gentle lad. I just can't believe that this has happened. Lewis is quite tall and muscular, but what if this happened to a little old lady? It's not right."
Lewis has bought another iPhone with his student loan.
Lewis reported his missing phone to police in the early hours of October 18.
A police spokesman said: "We can confirm that an iPhone theft was reported on October 18. A gold iPhone was reported stolen. We made an effort to locate the iPhone but it was not recovered."
Anyone with information about the missing phone should call police on 101.
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