Moped thugs threatened a 10-month-old baby with a huge knife before stealing her terrified parents’ watches in a shocking attack in broad daylight.
Mother Caroline Jimenez, 31, said one of the robbers held a blade to her baby daughter’s face as they were told to remove their wrist wear.
The pair targeted the family of three just yards from Sloane Avenue near the King’s Road in Chelsea on Saturday.
Ms Jimenez was with her husband, pushing their daughter in a pram, when two men in motorcycle helmets and balaclavas moved in on them.
Moped thugs threatened a 10-month-old baby with a huge knife before stealing her terrified parents’ watches in a shocking attack in broad daylight
She told the Evening Standard: ‘We were just walking around Chelsea enjoying the sunshine, we’d been shopping and we entered the street because it looked nice.
‘I saw two men, I thought they looked weird and I was a little scared but there were other people and I thought, “This is Chelsea in the middle of the afternoon. Nothing is going to happen.’
The men followed them on the bike down Sprimont Place, just yards from Sloane Avenue near King’s Road, at about 3.30pm on Saturday.
Ms Jimenez, a photographer, said: ‘They passed next to us and I thought it was OK but then they came back and the passenger on the back started to run towards us with a huge knife. We started to scream, my husband stayed in front of him, and I started to run away with my daughter because I was pushing the pram.’
Her husband, 32, threw his watch at the robbers in a bid to get them to leave. ‘When I turned around the guy was coming towards me and then he put the knife to my daughter and I gave him my watch as well,’ she said.
‘[Our daughter] did not know what the knife was but she could feel we were upset and she cried. We’ll never forget the image of that man with the knife.’
Posting to Facebook, outraged Ms Jimenez called upon the mayor of London to take action.
She said: ‘I am therefore asking you, Sadiq Khan, as Mayor of London, what are you waiting for? When will you take action to protect your citizens and, in particular, the weaker ones, children and the elderly?
‘Mr Khan, as a father and the mayor of London, do you find it acceptable that a baby can be threatened with a knife on the streets of your city on a Saturday afternoon? I am asking because the police are not permitted to chase these gang members.
‘According to you, Mr Khan, who is the victim? The attacker? The question might seem ridiculous but it is clear from the impotence of the police that it is the attacker that is being protected, not the people and children being assaulted.’
The number of attacks by moped drivers has doubled in London in the past year with a wave of thefts and assaults over the summer months.
Police are struggling to tackle the menace amid safety guidelines that make it difficult for officers to pursue mopeds through the crowded streets.
Ms Jimenez, a Belgian national who came to London with her husband seven months ago, posted details of the attack on Facebook and called on Mayor Sadiq Khan to take action.
She said police arrived quickly but told her they were powerless to chase the criminals. ‘
A Met spokesman told the newspaper: ‘Police are investigating a moped-enabled robbery.’ The suspects, who fled towards Elystan Place, were white and wore black crash helmets, navy tracksuits and black Nike trainers. There have been no arrests.