I thought armed raid was a terrorist attack
TWO people caught up in an armed raid at Gleneagles Hotel yesterday told a court how they thought it was a terror attack.
Three masked men stole watches worth more than £500,000 when they burst into a jewellers at the five-star resort in June last year.
Daniel Horne, a sales assistant at Mappin & Webb jewellers, told the High Court in Edinburgh that he ran into a back office to avoid the robbers, who used hammers to smash display cabinets before grabbing the watches.
He said: “I initially thought it was a terrorist attack. I heard bangs and I said to my colleague, ‘That sounds like gunfire’.
“I thought they were killing people. I thought it was a terrorist attack.”
Harriet Henderson, 26, was on duty as an assistant manager at the Perthshire hotel at the time of the raid on June 27 last year.
She said: “I remember it was noise I heard first. It was like a crackling, banging sort of noise.
“My first instinct was someone had dropped something. Then it took a few seconds to register was happening.” Harriet said she realised that someone nearby was having a “kind of exchange” with a colleague at a nearby concierge desk. She added: “It wasn’t a normal guest exchange.” The manager said she couldn’t see the individual’s face but remembered the person being dressed in black clothing.
She added: “There were other people in the lobby coming up towards us.”
Harriet told the court there were three people in total and they were wearing masks. She added that two of them went in
the direction of the Mappin & Webb boutique.
Harrier ducked and ran and customers at reception left under her instruction.
She said: “I thought it was like a terrorist attack. That’s what I thought it was.”
Harriet was giving evidence on the afternoon of the second day of proceedings against Richard Fleming, 42, of London. He denies armed robbery and other charges.
A guest at the hotel told the court she thought she was watching a film shoot as she watched the robbery unfold.
Patricia James, 58, said she saw one man in black run into the hotel wearing a “Halloween” mask and with a hood over his head. He was carrying a hammer. Patricia told prosecution lawyer Jane Farquharson: “Initially, I thought it was some sort of film shoot.
“I thought there was filming going on and the hotel forgot to tell us that it was happening.
“I didn’t know what to do with myself. I heard shouting and I remember thinking to myself that this was something more than a film shoot.”
The jury were shown CCTV footage of sales assistant Daniel running into the back office of the jewellers.
Jurors saw three masked men enter the premises a few seconds later. The trio smashed the display and took Rolex watches.
The court heard the robbery took approximately two minutes.
Daniel added: “It felt like ages. It felt like 20 minutes.”
Fleming denies armed robbery, attempting to pervert the course of justice and housebreakings in St Andrews, Fife, on June 12, 2017.
The trial before judge Lady Carmichael continues.