Man jailed for spate of violent robberies on Tube network – London

A man who robbed three young men on the London Underground network has been jailed following a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation. 

Fabian Pawlowski, 22, of The Drive, Banstead, was jailed for a total of four-and-a-half years at Harrow Crown Court on Friday 9 October. 

He pleaded guilty to three counts of Robbery and two counts of Possession of a Bladed Article at an earlier hearing. 

The court heard how, at around 1.40pm on Monday 27 April this year, Pawlowski boarded a Metropolitan Line Tube train at Harrow-on-the Hill station.

On board he fist bumped a man and sat opposite him before asking if he could use his mobile phone to make a call. The man reluctantly handed over his phone and Pawlowski then got off the train at Northwick Park.

The victim followed Pawlowski, asking for his phone back. He was punched in the face and then left after spotting what he believed to be a knife in Pawlowski’s fist. 

Three days later, on 30 April, Pawlowski returned to Harrow-on-the Hill station and approached a man before shoving his hand into the man’s jeans pocket. The victim was threatened, and believing he was going to be stabbed, he let him take his phone, worth over £1,000. 

On 15 May, Pawlowski approached a man on a Jubilee line train travelling between Canning Town and North Greenwich. He began eyeing up the man’s phone and became aggressive, then pulled two blades out of his pocket. Pawlowski took the phone and left the train. 

Pawlowski was identified by BTP detectives through CCTV enquiries and intelligence and circulated as wanted. He was arrested by patrolling BTP officers at Stratford station on 16 June. 

He pleaded guilty to charges in July after BTP presented a file of undisputable evidence, including CCTV footage linking Pawlowski to all the robberies. 

BTP Detective Constable Olesia Berdova said: “Pawlowski is a serial offender who set out to intimidate his victims, using threatening language as well as a knife to force his victims to hand over their mobile phones. 

“Pawlowski’s actions have caused significant distress and fear and I am pleased that he will now spend a substantial amount of time behind bars. 

“BTP has been working hard to reduce the number of robberies across the railway network in recent years, and this case demonstrates that when they do still occur, we will never let up in the fight to take down robbers.

"Every report of robbery is taken extremely seriously, and I urge anyone who is the victim of, or witness to, this offending to report it to us by texting 61016."