Moped gang use hammers and machetes in watch raid
Terrified customers hide in vault while raiders smash their way into jewellers and grab all its stock
CUSTOMERS had to lock themselves inside a jewellers’ vault after moped raiders armed with machetes and hammers attacked a central London watch store.
The Hour House on Duke Street, Marylebone, was raided yesterday morning by a gang of five men who smashed the front window and reportedly stole between £400,000 and £500,000 worth of goods.
Reality TV star Spencer Matthews, from Made in Chelsea, was in the shop with two friends when the raid began.
“I just had to hide in a safe, more like a vault, downstairs while this watch shop got smashed to pieces by armed robbers,” he posted on Instagram.
“These guys drive a scooter through the glass and start battering the shop with hammers, big huge hammers, wearing helmets.
“We’re in the back of the shop looking at them, sprint downstairs, hide in the vault until all the noise passes. Come upstairs, and the place is just battered. All the watches gone.”
Mr Matthews – whose sister-in-law is Pippa Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge’s sister – was at the shop to collect a vintage Rolex Daytona Zenith stainless steel watch, the only watch not stolen in the raid.
“If that isn’t luck, then I don’t know what is,” Mr Matthews said.
He revealed that he was in the shop with his young son, Theodore, a few days ago but said he will “think twice” before taking him anywhere with any valuable goods again.
“London, in particular, is dangerous at the moment,” he added.
Paul Starck, a 43-year-old Thames Valley fire service engineer, was driving near the shop when he saw the group launch their attack, prompting him to call the police.
As a result, he was targeted by one of the men who banged a machete against his car window, smashing the glass into his eye.
“He was trying to get through the window at me because he knew I was on the phone to police.
“I’ve never been so scared in my life. He had no care in the world, the chap,” Mr Starck said.
Another witness, who did not want to be named, said one of the raiders rammed the front door of the shop with a scooter, and then two others started banging a second door with sledgehammers.
He said that one of the armed men then started chased him, adding: “It’s not every day you come to work expecting someone to come at you with a machete.”
According to another witness, one of the mopeds was later found abandoned in Islington.
A spokeswoman for the Met Police said: “Police were called at 10.32am on Tuesday, May 28, following reports of a smash and grab at a jewellery store in Duke Street W1.
“A number of males armed with weapons are reported to have driven to the premises on mopeds and smashed a window before stealing goods and fleeing.
“Officers attended, including firearms colleagues.”
Last night, Scotland Yard said that three men had been arrested on suspicion of armed robbery in connection with the raid on The Hour House. specialist