Two men jailed for Grindr targeted thefts
48 minutes agoJosh Parry,LGBT & Identity reporterandNeil Henderson,Courts producer, in London
Met PoliceTwo men who were part of what police have called “London’s most prolific Grindr gang” have been jailed for a combined eight-and-a-half years after using the gay dating app to target victims.
Rahmad Khan Mohammadi, 23 and Mohammed Bilal Hotak, 21 stole phones, passports and wallets in 35 burglaries and 20 related frauds, totalling £68,000 over six months, the Met said.
One victim was left hospitalised with stress when loans and overdrafts were taken out using their name.
Sentencing the pair at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday, Judge Adenike Bologun said the men relied on victims “being too embarrassed to report the crime”.
But she said she wasn’t persuaded that the offences demonstrated hostility to the victims based on their sexual orientation, adding that “this was an opportunistic offence.”
The court had heard how Mohammadi, from Harrow, and Hotak, from Hackney, both Afghan nationals, tricked their way into the homes of unsuspecting men by arranging to meet up with them on the dating app.
Once inside their homes, the duo distracted the men and persuaded them to unlock their phones to play music, sometimes asking the victim to take a shower before sex, and then escaping with the device or other valuable items.
The duo would then use debit and credit cards stored on the phones and on one occasion accessed a victim’s bank account and stole money by transferring cash.
Met PoliceProsecuting, David Patience, read statements by the victims to the court describing the damage done to their confidence and finances.
One described how he felt his ‘vulnerability was used against me, because of my sexuality and body size’.
‘I was manipulated and led into a park late at night, my phone was taken from me, I was humiliated and unable to protect myself.’
Another described how he was hospitalised due to the stress, and another recounted how his studies and finances were wrecked.
Targeting multiple men
The Met described the men as part of “London’s most prolific Grindr gang”, targeting multiple men per week by repeatedly making new profiles.
They would sometimes enter homes together, but on other occasions one would enter alone, while the other waited outside to act as a getaway driver.
Mr Patience claimed the pair held “contemptuous ill will” towards the victims based on their sexuality and use of the app, which is predominantly used by gay and bisexual men.
“They did not target women, heterosexual men – they targeted gay men. They thought they would be easier to commit offences against”, he told the court.
But barrister for Hotak, John Kearney, claimed the “victims will have learned a lesson” and strongly denied the suggestion that this was in some way “ill will towards the gay community”.
“Women would not have been as foolish and reckless to place themselves in a position of vulnerability with strange men coming into their home” he said.
Defending Mohammadi, Nathan Toms, claimed his client had left Afghanistan after he was stabbed at the age of 15 by his then girlfriend’s brother.
“His own family forced him to flee,” he told the court.
“His father was going to murder him because he was linked to the government and he believed it would ‘reset relations’ with his employer. He arrived in this country via a lorry.”
‘Opened the Met’s eyes’
The force said it had worked with charities to overcome the LGBT+ community’s “lack of faith in policing” after a landmark report found the force to be institutionally homophobic.
“Prior to this investigation, there was a recognition that the use of apps to commit offending was there, but until we opened up our worldview, I didn’t realise the coordination and the use of Grindr as an app in that way to facilitate offending.
“I didn’t know it was quite as prevalent in that respect.”
Detective Inspector Mark Gavin, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Team said officers were surprised “how easily they could use the app to move around the victims.”
He said the Met had been getting the message out to communities that this would be taken seriously and that the force would fully investigate these types of crimes.
“Word of mouth started to spread because we started to see people coming in more confident and reporting the crimes and getting into a lot more detail.”
Jasmine O’Connor, from anti-LGBT+ abuse charity Galop said: “We know Grindr is widely used by many LGBT+ people, not only for dating, but also for community, connection, and mutual support – particularly for people who may feel otherwise isolated.
“Learning about the harmful and calculated manipulation of Grindr to target LGBT+ people is likely to have a real impact on our whole community’s sense of safety.
“More must be done to ensure minoritised victims of crime have meaningful access to safety and criminal justice.”
Mohammadi was sentenced to five years in prison and Hotak to three-and-a-half years.
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