A 15-year-old girl said she is willing to apologise to opera singer Katherine Jenkins after she mugged her on a London street before a carol concert.
The teenager admitted to the robbery of an iPhone worth around £500 from the Welsh star, who had intervened in a struggle with another woman whose bag was being targeted on the Kings Road in Chelsea last month.
The girl, who Highbury Corner Youth Court heard is on course for top grades in her GCSEs, also pleaded guilty to assault by beating of an emergency worker, in that she admitted assaulting a police constable.
Mezzo-soprano Jenkins, who was referred to in the charge and in court by her married name Katherine Levitas, was in London to sing at the Henry van Straubenzee charity carol concert at St Luke’s Church on the day of the incident, December 4.
The girl, who cannot be named because of her age, said she would be willing to apologise to her victim either face to face or in a letter.
Prosecutor Robert Simpson told the court that Jenkins had a cup in one hand and her phone in the other when she spotted a “struggle with a lady” in which attackers were trying to take her handbag.
“She intervened at that point,” he said, adding that the defendant thought that she was being filmed and took the phone from Jenkins.
The singer was assisted by members of the public and police arrived.
Mr Simpson said the screen on the phone had been broken and there was a “clumsy attempt to remove the SIM card”.
District Judge Susan Williams, who imposed a referral order of six months and ordered the girl‘s mother to pay £20 in compensation, said: “It’s a real shock when you get mugged like that. It happened to me. It happened to this lady.”
The judge asked the teenager what she could do to help the victim feel better, and she said “probably apologise”, adding: “I know that’s not going to make up for what I did.”
When asked if she would be prepared to apologise face to face or in writing, the girl said she would.
At the end of the hearing, Mr Simpson said: “I’ve noted on the file that she’s willing to apologise.”
Sabrina Fitzgerald, the girl’s counsel, said the teenager took the phone “because she thought she was being filmed”.
She said the girl is on course for the equivalent of A grades in her GCSEs and said there were “issues around peer pressure and poor decision-making skills”.
Jenkins was not in court for the hearing.
In a statement last month, Jenkins’ agent said: “On her way to rehearsal she witnessed an older lady being viciously mugged and intervened to help.
“As a result of her stepping in, Katherine was then mugged herself.
“However she helped the police identify the perpetrator and the young woman was arrested shortly afterwards.”