Watch thieves take £1m a month, court hears

An average of £1m worth of watches is stolen from people's wrists in London's West End every month, police have said.

There were 97 watch robberies, including attempts, across Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham between January and June, out of 1,196 robberies in those boroughs.

A further 70 watches were stolen between July and September, the force said.

The Met Police figure was given to Southwark Crown Court as three men were jailed on Friday for stealing a £137,000 watch that was cut from the wrist of Romanian businessman Catalin Botezatu outside a Mayfair restaurant.

In a statement referred to in court, Det Sgt Andy Swindells said that despite police efforts, high-value watch robbery "remains a problem in the West End".

He said a knife had been seen or implied in a fifth of watch robberies over the past six months, and that many victims had been "punched and kicked and injured".

Mayfair and Knightsbridge were hotspots where watches alone were targeted, while a third of watch robberies happened around the West End's night-time economy, he added.

Fashion designer Catalin Botezatu recently told the court he feared for his life when the three thieves - Younes Djoudi, Abdel El Habchi, Ali Eldahouzze - surrounded him and cut his watch from his wrist outside Amazonico in Berkeley Square in January.

Djoudi, 34, was jailed for five years and nine months, Eldahouzze, 22, was handed three years and six months, and El Habchi, 30, received five years and six months.

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 added: "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 said robberies of expensive watches were "an all too familiar feature" of criminality in London and that they "undermine public confidence and damage the reputation" of the city.

The court previously heard the men carried out a "reconnaissance operation", walking past Botezatu outside the restaurant from about 22:15 GMT, before surrounding him as he smoked with a friend near his car.

Prosecutor Arizuna Asante said a sharp implement was used to cut through the rubber strap of the watch, leaving cuts on Botezatu's wrists.

Giving evidence from behind a screen during the trial, Botezatu said he had been pushed into a fence and restrained, and had feared for his life because of a previous cancer operation and having five stents fitted.

"I couldn't believe that something like this could happen in London, in front of a luxury restaurant where I was a client," he told jurors.

The watch, a birthday present about 13 years ago from a friend who has since died, has never been recovered.

Djoudi admitted robbery, Eldahouzze and El Habchi denied involvement but were convicted after a nine-day trial.

El Habchi told jurors he had not realised a robbery was about to happen, while Eldahouzze claimed Djoudi had threatened to set him on fire if he did not take part.

The court heard Djoudi had previous convictions for watch-related offences in 2014 and 2017, and police found messages on Eldahouzze's phone including a picture of the stolen watch.

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