A gang of three ‘Rolex Rippers” who carried out a series of savage attacks in London’s West End have been jailed for a total of almost 30 years. Tedros Haile, 35, and Mahad Jammeh, 24, and Christian Whittingham, 27, targeted Michail Rivas outside the Rolls Royce showroom in Stratton Street, Mayfair, on 25 June last year. Haile, Jammeh and a third man jumped out of a white BMW wearing face coverings and surrounded Mr Rivas.
They grabbed his Mido Baroncelli Moonphase Chronograph worth £1,000 before fleeing in a getaway car. Victim Mr Rivas has been left heartbroken as he says the watch cannot be replaced as it had sentimental value. Later that night the gang targeted Mark Jackson and Oliver Wragg in Brewer Street. Both were wearing short sleeved tops and expensive looking watches after a night out watching football.
Mr Jackson felt a hard object hit him behind his head before being hit by multiple full force fist punches.
He heard one of the thugs scream “get his watch” and one say “stab him in the face”.
One of the robbers put Mr Wragg in a chokehold from behind and he gave up his £600 Audemars Piguet replica watch.
The thieves made a getaway in the BMW they had used for both robberies.
The raid came in the midst of amidst a growing explosion of luxury good thefts across the capital with victims including racing driver Jenson Button.
Detectives recovered and viewed hundreds of hours of CCTV footage to establish a link between one vehicle, the three suspects and the three robberies. During their trawl of the footage they discovered how the gang had conducted surveillance on members of the public to carefully pick-out their future victims.
The trio were arrested on 30 July last year and clothing worn by the men at the time of the offences was recovered, cementing their links to the robberies.
Whittingham became the third member to be jailed as he was sentenced to 10 years and six months in jail at Southwark Crown Court last Friday. This came after his accomplices were sentenced in April.
Jammeh, who has eleven previous convictions for robbery dating back to when he was 15.
Haile was in breach of a suspended sentence order for a burglary where he and another man broke into a flat where a woman was present.
Jailing Haile for 11 years and Jammeh for eight years in April Judge Christopher Hehir said the violence had been “gratuitous”.
He said: “You were clearly looking to identify members of the public wearing valuable wrist watches.
“These were planned and group offences- involving multiple people attacking one or two people.”
Judge Hehir said he hoped the sentences would “deter this type of planned and often very lucrative offending”.
Haile, of Hammersmith, admitted one count of robbery and denied but was convicted of one count of robbery and one of attempted robbery.
Jammeh, of Enfield, and Whittingham, of Uxbridge, admitted two counts of robbery and one of attempted robbery.
Det Insp Lizzie Beeston, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “Our investigation has ensured three violent offenders have been removed from our streets.
“Every robbery has a significant impact on the victim. This is a violent crime that leaves a significant, lasting effect on the victim.
“Tackling violent crime in all its forms is one of the Met’s priorities and we are determined to reduce the number of robberies. As part of the New Met for London Plan, localised proactive teams have been set up to deal with robberies affecting our local communities.”