VIDEO: Street thief uses “bizarre dance” to steal woman’s Rolex

Luke Benedictus

Forget car-jacking or bag-snatching. A street thief in Birmingham used a different technique to steal a woman’s Rolex clean off her wrist after employing what police described as “a bizarre dance”.

CCTV footage shows Abdelhadi Bahou Jabour approaching the couple in Birmingham’s Colmore Row in July. He starts talking to them and exchanging high fives. Then in a baffling attempt to divert attention from his plan, he begins what West Midlands Police called a “nimble-footed” dance routine that was “part Bruce Forsyth, part Artful Dodger”.

These moves that police say included “grinding up against the woman” proved sufficiently bewildering to distract the unfortunate victim. Jabour was then able to slip the woman’s £9,000 Rolex watch off her wrist.

West Midlands Police said the 24-year-old then attempted to steal the man’s watch, too, but it got caught on his shirt cuff, prompting Jabour to make a hasty getaway.

In fact, Jabour’s tactics weren’t as ridiculous as they may have looked. As Melbourne magician and theatrical pickpocket Nick Kay told Time+Tide in an interview, stealing someone’s watch off their wrist involves a complex form of physical and mental choreography to alter your spatial awareness.

“In its simplest form, it’s a question of misdirection,” Kay says. “I need to direct your attention to another part of your body so that you’re not aware of what I’m doing while I’m holding your wrist to remove their watch.”

The thief will usually begin with handshakes, shoulder pats and even hugs to desensitise their mark to physical touch. From there, a series of misdirections are used to distort your attention, while they start to move in to remove the watch.

“You have to make them comfortable with you being in their personal space and comfortable with you touching them,” Kay says. “Otherwise their guard is up.”

As you see in the video, Jabour opted for a more unconventional approach using his dance moves to befuddle his victim and the wait for the right moment to pounce.

Following the robbery, Jabour then made his way into St Phillip’s Cathedral grounds where he stole a £4,700 Rolex from another woman despite her attempts to resist him.

Jabour was arrested later in July and admitted two robberies and an attempted robbery at Birmingham Crown Court. He was jailed for two years and three months.