Woman tracks down stolen iPhone on her own after police refuse to help her

A woman who had her iPhone and handbag stolen in a street attack in Derby managed to track down the perpetrators using another Apple device.

The 33-year-old woman, identified as Sabina, located her phone using another Apple device and approached the police with that piece of information. Her phone had the "Find my iPhone" app, which helped her locate the device.

However, the police did not follow the lead, saying that their hands were tied since there was no exact address.

The woman did not give up and asked her Facebook friends if any of them were willing to help her. Two of her friends came forward to help her find the phone.

The three of them successfully tracked down the attackers to a location on Burton Road. They chased them down and managed to get the phone back as the attackers had ditched it while fleeing.

Sabina has expressed utter disappointment with the way police handled her case, she said: "When they told me that they couldn't help me get my phone, I felt terrible and awful. And when they told me that no one had been assigned to the case I had to ask them if they were serious."

"I'm lucky that I know a lot of people and have friends on Facebook who helped. They seemed to care more than the police," The Mirror quoted her as saying.

The woman was assaulted when she was on her way home from the Wardwick pub, in Derby city center. The two muggers punched her face three times and stopped the assault after a passer-by stopped to help her.

Her attackers fled with her handbag and phone before anyone present could do anything to stop them. The woman approached the police, but they did not help her. The police have issued an apology for not doing enough to help the woman.

"There was a delay in the crime being allocated and for a number of days, the victim was not contacted. That was not correct and for that, we have already apologised, and do so again unreservedly," a spokesperson for Derbyshire Police said.

The police are trying to locate the men who assaulted the woman and ran away with her things.

"In the past days further enquiries have been conducted and the victim is being kept regularly updated by the investigating officer."

"Incidents such as this are taken very seriously by the force and, while the initial contact between the force and the victim was not to the standard that she or we would expect, the investigation is being progressed and there are significant lines of enquiry being followed," they added.