Shocking moment thief tries to steal British cellphone while filming his romantic proposal to girlfriend in Barcelona
This is the shocking moment a brazen thief tried to steal a Brit’s mobile phone in Barcelona while filming his romantic proposal to his girlfriend.
Charlie Bullock, 30, had taken his partner of one and a half years to the Catalan capital to propose to her on Sunday when his plans were derailed.
Hannah McNaghten was surprised when Charlie got down on one knee, but their special moment was spoiled by a thug who tried to take the phone and record it.
When Hannah cried out, quick-thinking Charlie sprang into action and courageously confronted the thief who ‘immediately’ gave the phone back.
“It kind of ruined the moment,” Charlie, from Newbury, Berkshire, later admitted.
‘I was just about to propose to my girlfriend and a nice man wanted to steal my phone.
Charlie had set his phone to capture the special moment in front of the Arc de Triomf
The two pause to embrace, leaving the phone unattended as the audience watches
The camera captured the moment an opportunistic thief grabbed the phone
Telecommunications engineer Charlie had taken Hannah to the popular tourist spot this weekend with plans to propose.
Arc de Triomf, installed for the 1888 World’s Fair in Barcelona, still attracts many tourists and street vendors, but also sees its fair share of opportunistic thieves.
Charlie had hung his phone against the wall for a moment while the two posed for a photo, with Hannah completely unaware of what was about to happen.
The footage shared since shows Hannah making her way to the phone before Charlie drops to one knee.
He takes a ring out of his pocket and captures the special moment on camera.
But as the couple hugged, a cunning thief saw his moment and grabbed the unattended device.
The video stops as the crook, seen in a black jacket, walks by and picks him up.
Charlie told NeedToKnow: ‘It kind of ruined the moment. Thank you Hannah for being alert to the phone thief.
‘I was just about to propose to my girlfriend and a nice man wanted to steal my phone.
“He gave it right back. I didn’t notice, my partner did, I only knew because she shouted at him and when he turned around he handed the phone back.
Friends were shocked but happy for the couple.
Fada said: ‘Leaving your phone unattended in Barcelona was bold.’
Josh added: ‘This is the problem of the modern age, people think they can leave their phone on this side because it ‘shouldn’t’ be stolen.’
Hannah didn’t know what was going on and thought they were just going to take a picture
Telecommunications engineer Charlie had taken Hannah to the popular tourist spot this weekend with plans to propose
The video disappears as the crook, seen in a black jacket, walks by and picks him up
Arc de Triomf, installed for the 1888 World’s Fair in Barcelona, still attracts many tourists and street vendors, but also sees its fair share of opportunistic thieves
The couple did not report the crime to police because they were lucky to find it, they said.
Barcelona is notorious for the prevalence of opportunistic petty thieves.
According to official data shared this year, pickpocketing was responsible for 48.1 percent of all recorded crimes committed in Barcelona.
This was 22 percent lower than 2019, but remained high, with 100,944 incidents during the year.
Scams have also increased by 35 percent compared to 2022 figures, but this mainly happened online.