Edinburgh students were left shocked after a friend's phone was swiped during a birthday night out - before showing up over 200 miles away across the Irish sea.
Iona Reddie had been out with friends celebrating her birthday at the Three Sisters pub in Edinburgh on Thursday, March 16 when the group realised that someone had taken her friend's iPhone 13 Pro Max.
The 22-year-old's friend, Amy Murphy, had quickly realised that her bag was unzipped and her phone was gone - and despite attempts to locate it using her Apple Watch, it had already been switched off.
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Aside from the phone briefly showing up at a B&B in Newington, Edinburgh the next morning, the girls then gave up hope altogether - until it cropped up in a shopping centre in Dublin over the weekend.
Iona, an animal conservation student, had originally told bouncers at the venue about the theft and asked if the DJ could make an announcement - but nobody came forward.
The next morning the phone was shown as active on Find My iPhone and the girls were informed that it was at a B&B in Newington.
Iona and Amy reported the phone as stolen with manufacturers Apple, meaning that the phone couldn’t be used until it was unlocked.
The pair travelled to the B&B hoping to confront the thief and take back the iPhone but had no luck after finding that it had been turned off again.
Then, over the weekend, the girls were left astonished by a notification stating that the phone was turned on - at a shopping mall in Dublin, where they believed it was headed to be unlocked.
Speaking today (March 20), Iona said: “We were all out celebrating my 22nd birthday at the Three Sisters in Edinburgh.
“Amy had her iPhone 13 Pro Max stolen out of her bag and she noticed straight away that her bag was unzipped and we tried to locate it quickly.
“She had been wearing a cross body bag and straight away we were trying to locate the phone by calling it and using her Apple Watch.
“We told the bouncers and the DJ to make an announcement - the next morning the phone was turned on and it showed as being in a B&B in Newington, Edinburgh.
“The phone had been reported as stolen through Apple which made the phone useless unless it was unlocked.
“We went to the B&B where it was turned on but had no luck as it had been turned off again.
“A few days later we were notified it was in Dublin and in a shopping mall where it was most likely taken to a phone shop to be unlocked.”
According to research, Edinburgh comes second to Cardiff as the place where people report having their mobile phone stolen most often in the UK.
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