Burglars who used gay sex app Grindr to dupe victims into letting them into their homes jailed

Rahmat Mohammadi, 22, and Mohammed Hotak, 21, used the gay dating app to gain access to homes.

The Afghan nationals then stole mobile phones and passwords to access victim's money in a six-month spree.

The pair carried out 35 burglaries and 20 frauds during the period, the Met Police said.

At Isleworth Crown Court on Monday, Mohammadi was jailed for five years and Hotak for three and a half years.

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The criminals also took valuables including passports and watches from their targets.

Sentencing both men, Judge Adenike Balogun said: “I have taken note of the psychological trauma as well as the inconvenience caused to the victims, and the distress that all of them have expressed at allowing you into their homes – into their private space – only to be violated.

”Prosecutor David Patience had alleged that the men were targeted because of their sexuality and the offences could in effect been seen as hate crimes.

The judge said: “I’ve considered that matter very carefully and it seems to me that the presumed sexual orientation of the victims presented an opportunity for you to commit the crime, and in that respect I do find that the victims… were targeted because of their perceived vulnerability."

However, she said they were not picked because the two men held “hostility” towards the victims’ sexuality.

Rather it was because they knew that Grindr, as an app facilitating gay hook-ups, was “an opportunity to gain easy access into the homes of the victims”.

She added: “I suspect you were – and I put no higher than that – banking on the victims not reporting the crime.”

Met detectives launched an investigation in autumn 2024 after receiving similar reports.

The similarly-orchestrated thefts were all upon unsuspecting men.

The force's Supt Owen Renowden called the duo "callous and calculating" as they pre-planned their offences.

Supt Renowden added that victims had "shown great strength" throughout the investigation.