Sticky fingers with Bobby Seagull - The Neighbourhood Watch Podcast Episode 5

Welcome along to the Neighbourhood Watch podcast with me, Alfie Moore.

I used to be a police officer and now I work in the world of stand-up comedy.

I'm the presenter of It's a Fair Cop on BBC Radio 4 and it's my pleasure to host this new podcast series.

Neighbourhood Watch is the largest volunteer-led crime prevention charity in England and Wales.

Loads of you are already involved

and help make Neighbourhood Watch what it is today.

with over 60,000 active volunteers and over 2 million supporter households.

Teams work on local, regional and national level to empower and educate people, working from the belief that connected communities are safer communities.

Whether you know everyone on your street by name or you haven't met a single person in your block of flats, the aim of this podcast is to offer advice about crime prevention and to share experiences and allow ourselves a little fun on the way.

I'm joined by a familiar face in each episode to find out about their neighbourhoods, where they grew up and hear about what happened to them or their loved ones as victims of crime.

In this episode, I'll be chatting to the multi-talented Bobby Siegel.

Believe me when I say he's an absolute force of nature.

He's the broadcaster, maths teacher, quiz host, author and co-host of the Maths Appeal podcast.

Bobby was awarded an MBE in 2025 in recognition of his services to libraries.

Sorry, libraries.

And he spent a lot of his childhood reading in his nearby East Ham library.

He was raised in Newham, East London, and still lives in the area.

And he's had several experiences as a victim of crime, most notably person-on-person street crime.

And he turned back and looked at me and said, Bruv, you are lucky you didn't have your phone out a second earlier.

And I was confused as to how I would have taken it.

Mugging, pickpocketing and phone snatching can all be defined as person-on-person street crime, and they're especially prevalent in large urban areas.

Phone snatching in particular is fairly common, but do you know how many people have their phones taken each year in England and Wales? Is it the equivalent of 100, 200 or 300 thefts a day? Mull it over and I'll reveal the answer a little later.

Right, now it's time to welcome our guest to the podcast.