Muggers snatched shoppers’ watches to the value of £1m

MUGGERS snatched designer watches worth more than £1million by targeting wealthy shoppers as they left Harrods and Selfridges, a court heard.

One watch, a Richard Mille that was one of just 30 made, was worth nearly £700,000 alone and the gang used some of the cash from selling the valuable timepieces to buy designer clothes for themselves, a jury was told.

Many of the watches, jewellery and devices including a drone and camera equipment were found at five lock-ups and market stalls rented by the three men last December.

Mehdi Didda, 34, his brother Sofiane Didda, 43, and Mohamed Safri, 35, closely monitored shoppers at Selfridges and Harrods before robbing them of their valuables, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Cash allegedly generated from the robberies were also found at a lock-up and at Sofiane Didda’s home address, totalling £11,480.

Heidi Stonecliffe, prosecuting, said: “They took valuable watches from members of the public that they had targeted and that they handled, or had, these watches and other high value items knowing that they were stolen.

“They did this for a single purpose: greed. The watches were worth between £20,000 and £700,000 each. They could be sold on for significant amounts of money. The high value items that Mehdi Didda, his brother Sofiane Didda and Mohamed Safri handled were also worth significant amounts of cash and they operated between them to realise this money and then spent some of it on designer clothes for themselves.”

She said the defendants were involved in a “reconnaissance [that] involved identifying a victim based on the type of watch they were wearing, the shopping bags they were carrying and often the location they were in; a wealthy area or a luxury goods shop such as Selfridges or Harrods”.

The court heard from one victim who was robbed of a watch worth £696,000. Ngoc Cao and his wife Mia, who live in Vietnam, said they made frequent trips to London to shop.

He said: “We had been shopping at Selfridges before 7pm. We didn’t stay long and went to the tax-free lounge.

“We then went on to Oxford Street and felt someone grabbing at my wrist. The man who tried to steal from me ran across the road. He had taken my watch and scratched my wrist. The watch is a Richard Mille RM – Erotic limited edition. It was numbered 19 of 30. Apparently it might be in somewhere in Hong Kong. I can’t remember what he looked like as it happened so quickly.”

The three men, all from Wandsworth, south-west London, all deny 13 counts including conspiracy to rob and handling stolen goods. The trial continues.