Shocking moment thief tries to steal Brit’s mobile as he films his romantic proposal to girlfriend in Barcelona

This is the shocking moment a brazen thief tried to steal a Brit’s mobile phone in Barcelona as he was filming his romantic proposal to his girlfriend.

Charlie Bullock, 30, had taken his partner of a year-and-a-half to the Catalan capital to ask her to marry him on Sunday when his plans were derailed.

Hannah McNaghten was taken by surprise when Charlie got down on one knee, but their special moment was spoiled by a crook trying to snatch the phone recording it.

When Hannah shouted out, quick-thinking Charlie jumped into action and, in a blaze of courage, confronted the thief who ‘immediately’ handed the phone back. 

‘It ruined the moment slightly,’ Charlie, from Newbury, Berkshire, later admitted.

‘I just wanted to propose to my girlfriend and some lovely guy wanted to steal my phone.

Charlie had set up his phone to capture the special moment in front of the Arc de Triomf

The two pause to embrace, leaving the phone unattended, as members of the public look on

The camera picked up the moment an opportunistic thief grabbed the phone

Telecommunications engineer Charlie had taken Hannah to the popular tourist spot over the weekend with plans to propose.

Arc de Triomf, installed for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair, still attracts hosts of tourists and street vendors, but sees it fair share of opportunistic thieves, too.

Charlie had propped his phone up on a wall for just a moment as the two posed for a picture, with Hannah totally unaware of what was to come.

In footage since shared, Hannah is seen making her way towards the phone before Charlie drops to one knee.

He pulls a ring from his pocket, capturing the special moment on camera. 

But as the couple embraced, a cunning thief saw his moment and grabbed the unattended device.

The video cuts out as the crook, seen in a black coat, walks past and picks it up. 

Charlie told NeedToKnow: ‘It ruined the moment slightly. Thank you Hannah for being alert to the phone thief.

‘I just wanted to propose to my girlfriend and some lovely guy wanted to steal my phone.

‘He immediately handed it back. I didn’t notice, my partner did, I only knew because she shouted at him and upon turning round he was handing the phone back.

Friends were left shocked but were happy for the pair.

Fada said: ‘Leaving your phone unattended in Barcelona was bold.’

Josh added: ‘This is the issue with modern times, people think they can leave their phones on this side because it ‘shouldn’t’ get stolen.’

Hannah was unaware of what was going on, and thought they were just going to take a photo

Telecommunications engineer Charlie had taken Hannah to the popular tourist spot over the weekend with plans to propose

The video cuts out as the crook, seen in a black coat, walks past and picks it up

Arc de Triomf, installed for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair, still attracts hosts of tourists and street vendors, but sees it fair share of opportunistic thieves, too

The couple did not report the crime to police as they were fortunate to recover it, they said.

Barcelona is notorious for the prevalence of opportunistic petty thieves.

According to official data shared this year, pickpocketing accounted for 48.1 per cent of all logged crimes committed in Barcelona.

This was down 22 per cent on 2019’s figures – but remained high, at 100,944 incidents over the year.

Scams were also up by 35 per cent compared to 2022’s figures, but this was mostly carried out online.