Three men have been jailed for a combined 14 years and nine months for robbing a man of a £140,000 luxury wristwatch at knifepoint in Mayfair, central London.
The Metropolitan Police said the incident occurred shortly before midnight on Wednesday, January 28, in Berkeley Square.
Detectives subsequently launched an investigation that resulted in the identification and arrest of the three men.
The convicts, Younes Djoudi, 34, Ali Eldahouzze, 22, and Abdel El Habchi, 30, were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, October 16.
Djoudi, who lives at Skyline, Slough, was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison. Eldahouzze, also of Skyline, received five years and six months, while El Habchi, of Dunster Gardens, Slough, was handed a three-year-and-six-month jail term.
According to the police, the victim was threatened with a knife and dispossessed of a Richard Mille wristwatch valued at £140,000.
Investigators established that the suspects travelled to Berkeley Square in a vehicle before carrying out the robbery and escaping. CCTV footage later captured the men boarding a train heading to Slough.
Police traced the vehicle to Djoudi and located both him and the car on Slough High Street on the evening of January 29, a day after the incident.
Footage from officers’ body-worn cameras showed Djoudi trying to flee when police approached him. A short foot chase followed before he was arrested on suspicion of robbery.
Officers seized his mobile phone and examined its contents, discovering communications that connected Eldahouzze and El Habchi to the offence. Analysis of phone location data also placed Djoudi at the robbery scene at the time of the incident.
Further investigations, including cell-site analysis, led detectives to an address associated with Eldahouzze and El Habchi. Police raided the property on March 5 and arrested both men.
All three defendants later pleaded guilty to robbery at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and were remanded in custody pending sentencing.
Detective Sergeant Andy Swindells, who led the investigation, said officers acted swiftly to identify those responsible for the violent robbery.
“Using CCTV, phone data, and witness statements, we gathered credible evidence needed to bring them before the courts and secure their convictions,” he said.
Swindells said the prison terms demonstrated that those involved in violent robberies would be traced and brought to justice.
The Metropolitan Police added that it remained committed to tackling violent crime, noting that robbery offences in London had declined by 12.8 per cent amid its enforcement efforts.