Armed men in ‘horror film’ masks raided top Scots hotel

THREE armed robbers raided a luxury hotel dressed like ‘horror movie’ characters, a court heard yesterday.

Former receptionist Eva Riedel, was on duty at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire when the men, armed with hammers, a machete and a pistol, stole Rolex watches worth more than £500,000.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Miss Riedel, 24, said she initially thought the men were playing a ‘bad joke’. But she changed her mind when she saw them heading to the Mappin & Webb boutique and smashing windows.

When prosecutor Jane Farquharson asked her how the men were dressed, Miss Riedel said: ‘They wore black. Do you know the horror movie The Purge? They all wore masks like the characters in that.’

‘They wore black. It wasn’t good’

The lawyer asked: ‘So it reminded you of a horror movie?’

Miss Riedel, from Vienna, replied: ‘Yes – and it wasn’t a good thing.’

She was the final prosecution witness in the trial of Richard Fleming of Dulwich, London.

Fleming, 42, denies being part of the gang that carried out the armed robbery on June 27 last year. He also denies attempting to pervert the course of justice and house-breakings in St Andrews, Fife, on June 12, 2017.

The court heard that Miss Riedel was supposed to give evidence last week but was unable to travel to Scotland.

She left Gleneagles a short time after the robbery, but said her decision to leave was unconnected to the raid.

The case continues.