An average of £1 million worth of watches are stolen from the wrists of Londoners and visitors in the West End every month, according to Metropolitan Police figures. The data, released during a sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court, revealed 97 watch robberies, including attempts, across Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster between January and June this year, totalling “millions of pounds of stolen property”. A further 70 timepieces were stolen between July and September, and a knife was “seen or intimated” in 20 per cent of watch robberies in the past six months.
Gang jailed for £137,000 Richard Mille theft
The figures emerged as three men were sentenced for the robbery of Romanian entrepreneur Catalin Botezatu’s diamond-encrusted Richard Mille watch, valued at £137,000. Younes Djoudi, 34, was jailed for five years and nine months; Ali Eldahouzze, 22, received three years and six months; and Abdel El Habchi, 30, was handed five years and six months. The robbery occurred just before midnight on January 28 in Berkeley Square, Mayfair.
Sentencing them, Judge Dafna Spiro said London ought to be a “safe city”, adding: “We are privileged to attract people such as Catalin Botezatu.” She said it is “a shame and a blight on our city that robberies of this kind occur and unsurprising that he has been deterred from returning as a result.” The judge described robberies of expensive watches as “an all too familiar feature” of criminality in London, undermining public confidence and damaging the city’s reputation.
Police: violence and hotspots in Mayfair and Knightsbridge
Metropolitan Police Detective Sergeant Andy Swindells wrote in a statement referred to in court: “Despite all of our efforts, high value watch robbery remains a problem in the West End, and we average about £1 million stolen from the wrists of Londoners and visitors every month.” He added that many offences “have seen violence”, with victims being “punched and kicked and injured”. A third of watch robberies have occurred “in the West End footprint”, mainly centred around the night-time economy, with suspects often “targeting various property from victims”. The “hotspots” where flashy watches are solely targeted are in Mayfair and Knightsbridge, Det Sgt Swindells said.
Mr Botezatu said he “feared for his life” as he was accosted after leaving Latin American restaurant Amazonico in Berkeley Square. Algeria-born Djoudi pleaded guilty to the robbery, while Moroccans El Habchi and Eldahouzze were convicted after a nine-day trial. The trio were seen on CCTV carrying out a “reconnaissance operation” before the robbery, Southwark Crown Court heard on Friday. Footage shows Djoudi walking past Mr Botezatu outside the restaurant shortly after 10.15pm, before later walking by with Eldahouzze and El Habchi, who looked at their victim before walking off.
Victim feared for life due to medical condition
Prosecutor Arizuna Asante said the trio were then “laying in wait”. Mr Botezatu was smoking with a friend near his car when the trio approached and “surrounded” him before “wresting” the watch from his left wrist. A “sharp implement” was used to cut through the rubber strap, leaving “cuts on his wrists”. Giving evidence from behind a screen, Mr Botezatu, from Bucharest, said he was pushed into the fence and then restrained. “The man in the middle had a sharp instrument, I don’t know what, and he cut me. He cut the watch strap as well.” He told the court: “I couldn’t believe that something like this could happen in London, in front of a luxury restaurant where I was a client. I feared for my life because of my cancer operation and because I have five stents and because the slightest blow or cut, God forbid, where I was operated, could have been fatal.”
The court heard Mr Botezatu was given the watch about 13 years ago by a friend. “It had a lot of sentimental value, it came from a very good friend of mine who is unfortunately no longer with us and it was a birthday present,” he said. The court heard that El Habchi, a social media influencer in Morocco, told jurors he did not realise the robbery was about to happen and claimed to have played no part in it. He had been working as a security guard in the UK and has indefinite leave to remain through his marriage to a British woman. Eldahouzze suggested Djoudi had threatened to “set me on fire” if he did not snatch the watch, but he still said he refused. He has leave to remain in the UK until 2028. The judge said Eldahouzze came to the country as an “unaccompanied asylum-seeking child” aged 14.
Mr Asante said Djoudi has “form for this kind of criminality” and had been involved in previous watch robberies in London, with convictions for watch-related crimes in 2014 and 2017. The prosecutor said Djoudi has “no right to remain in the UK”, with the judge adding he is subject to an active deportation order. The court was told police found incriminating messages on Eldahouzze’s phone, including a picture of the stolen watch, which has never been recovered.
Detective Inspector Tom Revell said: “The three defendants in this case threatened violence in order to steal a watch in Berkeley Square in January this year, causing significant distress to the victim. Thanks to the hard work of investigating officers, the robbers were identified through CCTV inquiries and intelligence checks and were arrested, charged and brought before the courts, where they must now face the consequences of their actions.”
