A mugger and his accomplice sped through a crowded market on a moped as they desperately tried to escape from police.

Cavell Hutson, 21, had reached out and grabbed phones - 21 in total, believed to have been stolen in just an hour - from pedestrians as he rode on a moped before police launched a 20-minute chase to capture him and his accomplice.

Dramatic footage of the pair's bid for freedom was captured by a police helipcopter as they twisted their way through a busy market in Dalston.

After weaving their way past startled shoppers, one of them is seen jumping off the back of the moped and fleeing through a stall.

The rider then continues on for a short distance before ditching the moped and running into a building, pursued by police.

However Hutson was nabbed by officers near by and has now been jailed for more than three years. His partner-in-crime did manage to evade officers.

The case follows a surge of moped phone muggings in London, from 372 in 2011 to more than 4,600 in the past 12 months.

In Islington alone, the worst hit borough, more than 300 phones were being snatched every month at the height of the crimewave.

Police have released shocking CCTV images of thieves on mopeds mounting pavements to snatch phones from unsuspecting pedestrians.

In February a couple had phones snatched from their hand in Farringdon Road while in July video footage revealed how two men on a scooter snatched a phone from the hands of a man walking on a pavement in Muswell Hill.

Scotland Yard launched a dedicated unit Operation Attrition to tackle the menace and revealed that a hard core of teenagers was behind the muggings. Two of the most prolific offenders were aged just 14 and 15 at the time.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard how Hutson, riding with an accomplice who is still at large, forced shoppers to dive out of the way as they weaved among stalls at Dalston’s Ridley Road Market, on September 3, in a desperate bid to avoid capture.

They finally ditched the moped as police officers closed in, and Hutson - clutching a bag with 21 stolen mobile phones - was captured moments after he fled into Kingsland Shopping Centre.

Hutson, from Highbury New Park, Islington, admitted 21 counts of theft at Blackfriars crown court, as well as dangerous driving and breaching a criminal behaviour order imposed last year.

Judge John Hillen jailed him for 32 months for the thefts and an extra eight months for dangerous driving, after seeing the helicopter CCTV footage of Hutson and his accomplice weaving recklessly through the market place.

Hutson was handed the criminal behaviour order and locked up for 12 months in September last year after he admitted being part of a gang on mopeds armed with knives, swords and machetes who had chased a rival group of teenagers through an Islington estate.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Heatley, from Operation Attrition, said the scourge of moped thieves are making London’s streets “hostile territory” for members of the public.

“This was an excellent result, which has seen a perpetrator of an audacious crime, which not only endangered members of the public but himself and his accomplice, receive a robust jail sentence”, he said.

Hutson committed his crime spree across Camden, Hackney, Westminster, and Tower Hamlets, as well as his native Islington which has seen a rising tide in moped crimes in the last year.

In August, victim Katharina Frosig, 28, told how muggers mounted the pavement and snatched her iPhone as she spoke to her mother, before targeting another woman just seconds later.

“You can’t prepare yourself — you might think if someone comes up behind you then you’ll grab your phone tight in your hand, but there’s no option apart from just not speaking on your phone on the street. Now my phone’s in my bag at all times”, she said.

Dramatic footage was also released in July of the split second moment a man’s phone was snatched out of his hand in Muswell Hill, the thief fleeing before the victim had chance to react.

DCI Heatley urged members of the public to enable security features on their phones and avoid texting while walking, suggesting they stand close to a wall when on the phone in public.

Hutson will serve half his sentence of three years and four months before being considered for release on licence.