Girl who mugged singer Katherine Jenkins willing to apologise
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Version 0 of 1. Teenager tells youth court she is willing to say sorry in writing or in person A 15-year-old girl has said she is willing to apologise to the classical singer Katherine Jenkins after she mugged her on a London street before a carol concert. The girl admitted to stealing an iPhone worth around £500 from the Welsh star, who had intervened in a struggle with another woman whose bag was being targeted on Kings Road in Chelsea last month. The girl, who Highbury Corner youth court heard is on course for top grades in her GCSEs, also pleaded guilty to assault by beating of an emergency worker, in that she admitted assaulting a police constable. Mezzo-soprano Jenkins, who was referred to in the charge and in court by her married name Katherine Levitas, was in London to sing at the Henry van Straubenzee charity carol concert at St Luke’s Church on 4 December. The girl, who cannot be named because of her age, said she would be willing to apologise to Jenkins either face to face or in a letter. Prosecutor Robert Simpson told the court that Jenkins had a cup in one hand and her phone in the other when she spotted a “struggle with a lady” in which attackers were trying to take her handbag. “She intervened at that point,” he said, adding that the defendant thought that she was being filmed and took the phone from Jenkins. The singer was assisted by members of the public and police arrived. Simpson said the screen on the phone had been broken and there had been a “clumsy attempt to remove the SIM card”. District judge Susan Williams, who imposed a six-month referral order and ordered the girl’s mother to pay £20 in compensation, said: “It’s a real shock when you get mugged like that. It happened to me. It happened to this lady.” The judge asked the teenager what she could do to help the victim feel better, and she said “probably apologise”, adding: “I know that’s not going to make up for what I did.” Sabrina Fitzgerald, the girl’s counsel, said she was on course for the equivalent of A grades in her GCSEs and that there were “issues around peer pressure and poor decision-making skills”. Jenkins was not in court for the hearing. In a statement last month, her agent said: “On her way to rehearsal she witnessed an older lady being viciously mugged and intervened to help. As a result of her stepping in, Katherine was then mugged herself. However, she helped the police identify the perpetrator and the young woman was arrested shortly afterwards.” |