Street thief performs bizarre ‘Ronaldinho’ dance move before stealing £9k Rolex watch

Bizarre CCTV shows the moment a sneaky street thief stole a £9,000 Rolex watch from a couple after distracting them by breaking out into a weird “Ronaldinho” dance move.

Abdelhadi Bahou-Jabour, 24, was captured on camera as he targeted the pair as they embraced each other on July 10.

He approached the couple before striking up banter, high-fiving them and then busting a strange dance - grinding up against the woman before flicking out his leg.

Within seconds he had slipped her £9,000 Rolex watch from her wrist before he then targeted the male victim but failed as the watch snagged on his shirt cuff.

Bahou-Jabour then jogged off into St Phillip’s Cathedral grounds where he stumbled across a woman also wearing a Rolex.

He approached victim singing ‘It’s coming home’

This time he approached her singing “It’s coming home” - the day before the Euros final - before grabbing her and trying to take her watch.

But she realised something was wrong and resisted, so Bahou-Jabour twisted her arm to steal the designer jewellery worth £4,700 off her arm.

Detectives studied CCTV images to identify the offender and found him walking around Birmingham city centre mixing with revellers on July 30 where he was arrested.

Bahou-Jabour, of Nottingham, admitted two robberies and an attempted robbery at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday (1/9) and will be sentenced next month.

‘Part Bruce Forsyth, part Artful Dodger’

Following the case, police mocked the crook’s fancy footwork and branded his moves “part Bruce Forsyth, part Artful Dodger.”

PC Mat Evans, of West Midlands Police, said: “This technique, where a criminal dances with their victim to distract them, has been referred to as the ‘Ronaldinho’ after the famous dancing footballer.

“Normally pickpockets try to steal using stealth so you won’t even feel it.

“But this technique uses the opposite approach, using excessive contact to misdirect your attention away from the sensation of having your pockets emptied or, in this case, your watch stolen.

“This is not a skill you pick up overnight, it requires many hours of training and practice to perfect, and is very effective.

“I’ve seen the ‘Ronaldinho’ technique used before, but this offender’s particular dance moves were the most bizarre I’ve ever seen. Part Bruce Forsyth, part Artful Dodger.

“I would always advise people to be on their guard when on a night out, as professional pickpockets are just as active then as they are during the day.

“The best protection you can have is to recognise the signs of how pickpockets do what they do, get away from them, and raise the alarm.”

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