THE BURKA BANDITS
Guilty, Rolex raiders who disguised themselves in Islamic robes
A GANG donned ‘burkas’ to carry out a terrifying armed raid on a jeweller’s shop.
Dean King, Anthony Wheeldon and Connor Willis were among those who targeted Walker the Jeweller in Dundee, making off with luxury watches worth more than £17,000.
Staff were threatened with an axe and a hammer, and a customer was hit on the head with a mallet.
The High Court in Edinburgh was yesterday shown footage of King taking part in a ruse to keep the door open while accomplices – two wearing Islamic-style full length robes and face coverings – ran in.
Advocate depute Ashley Edwards, QC, said King had gained entry before stopping to tie a lace, preventing the security door closing.
She said: ‘Two males wearing robes and face veils, which witnesses described as being “like a burka”, came out of the vehicle followed by a third male wearing dark clothing and a balaclava.’
Customer Gordon Morris began swinging a stool towards the raiders but the one with the mallet struck it, then him. Mr Morris later had stitches for a head wound.
When an anti-robbery device was activated, filling the store with a fog, the raiders fled with only two Rolex watches worth £17,850.
King, 28, Wheeldon, 40, and Willis, 24, pleaded guilty to carrying out the assault and robbery at the Dundee jeweller on September 23, 2019 while acting with others. Willis also admitted taking part in a raid on a jeweller’s in Edinburgh on August 31 that year.
The owner of Miena Jewellery in the city’s Great Junction Street, Wail Al-Khamis, also fought back against the intruders, who were carrying an axe and smashed their way in with a sledgehammer.
They threatened to kill Mr Al-Khamis, the court heard. Miss Edwards said: ‘The first male twice aimed blows at him with an axe. Mr Al-Khamis blocked these blows with his arm, which was struck.’
The raiders took jewellery worth £27,000 from display cases.
CCTV images from Edinburgh led to Manchester police identifying Willis. A vape bottle yielded a DNA profile matching Wheeldon, and King was later arrested in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
He denied assaulting Mr Morris during the Dundee raid. Judge Lord Beckett deferred sentence for background reports.
‘Aimed blows at him with an axe’