A knife-wielding robber punched victims and stole their phones during a weeks-long crime spree on the London Underground.
Fabian Pawlowski, 22, targeted three young men between April 27 and May 15.
At around 1.40pm on April 27, Pawlowski boarded a Metropolitan Line train at Harrow-on-the-Hill station.
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He fist-bumped a man on board and sat opposite him before asking to borrow his phone to make a call.
The victim reluctantly handed it over but Pawlowski got off the train at Northwick Park.
When the man followed him and demanded his phone back, Pawlowski punched him in the face, as reported by Need To Know.
The victim then walked away after spotting what he believed was a knife in the robber’s fist.
Three days later, Pawlowski, of Banstead, Surrey, returned to Harrow-on-the-Hill station and approached another man before shoving his hand into his jeans pocket.
The victim, who feared he was about to be stabbed, handed over his phone, worth more than £1,000.
On May 15, Pawlowski targeted a third man on a Jubilee Line train travelling between Canning Town and North Greenwich.
After eyeing up the man’s phone and becoming aggressive, he pulled two blades from his pocket before stealing the device and leaving the train.
British Transport Police (BTP) detectives identified Pawlowski through CCTV enquiries and intelligence before issuing a wanted appeal. He was arrested by patrolling officers at Stratford station on June 16.
He admitted the offences in July after being shown CCTV footage linking him to all three robberies.
He was sentenced at Harrow Crown Court on Friday, October 9, after pleading guilty to three counts of robbery and two counts of possessing a bladed article.
A judge sentenced him to four-and-a-half years in prison.
After sentencing a BTP spokesperson said: “Fabian Pawlowski thought he could carry a string of robberies on the Underground and go unnoticed.
“He thought wrong.
“Pawlowski used deceptive and aggressive tactics to steal phones from three men in London earlier this year.
“He was no match for us though.
“Following our investigation, Pawlowski has been sent to prison for four-and-a-half years.”
BTP Detective Constable Olesia Berdova added: “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.”
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