Amir Khan: My terror at staring down barrel of gun
Robbery was scarier than any fight says boxer who had £72,000 watch stolen
BOXeR Amir Khan told yesterday of his terror as he stared d down the barrel of a gun pointed d in his face by armed robbers.
The former world champion said he was more scared than he had been at any of his fights when he was held at t gunpoint outside a restaurant by y masked raiders who grabbed his s £72,000 diamond-encrusted watch.
Yesterday he told London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court he feared he would be e shot and looked away to stop the gunman pulling the trigger as he pointed the e weapon just a foot from his face.
Khan, 36, was leaving a restaurant in n London with his wife on April 18 last year r when a gunman pounced, demanding his s Franck Muller Vanguard Chronograph.
He recalled: ‘I put my hand on the door r handle (of my car) and someone ran n towards me and pushed me towards the e car and I fell back on the car.
‘next thing I saw a gun being pointed at my face, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a gun in my face. I had to look away, when the gun was put to my face I literally saw down the barrel.
‘I felt really scared. I have three kids, my wife is next to me as well. I was really scared. I am a sportsman, a fighter. I have been put in the toughest situations but this is something different, this is really, really scary.
‘When he put the gun to my face I couldn’t recognise him because he had a mask on.
‘I looked away because I didn’t want him to pull the trigger.’
Khan didn’t know whether he would be shot or even if it was a prank until the gunman demanded the custom-made watch he had received following a boxing match. He told jurors: ‘When someone puts a gun to your face, I just looked away and handed it over. He wasn’t alone because I remember when he ran away there was not one, but two people running away.
‘After the watch was given to them, I see them run off and that’s when a couple of people ran across from the restaurant to see what was happening. I could see my wife screaming and crying.’
The boxer, wearing a pinstripe suit, went on: ‘It must have been seconds, must have been around about five to ten seconds when he pushed me to the car and asked for me to take off the watch. He was very close. A foot from my face.’ The sports star had been shopping in Oxford Street earlier that day with his wife Faryal Makhdoom, 31, before they dined with a friend at the Sahara Grill in Leyton, east London.
The former light-welterweight world champion told the court the watch had been given to him by jeweller Frost of London.
earlier yesterday CCTV footage was played to jurors showing the couple dining at the restaurant before the robbery.
Two of the alleged robbers nurul Amin and Ismail Mohammed, both 25, are said to have acted as ‘spotters’ sitting at a table a few feet away prior to the raid.
The two defendants and a third man Ahmed Bana, 25, all deny conspiracy to commit robbery. Jurors were told a fourth man, Dante Campbell, 21, has admitted conspiracy to commit robbery and possession of an imitation firearm.
Prosecutor Philip evans, KC, showed jurors footage of the attack, saying: ‘You can see Campbell waving a gun at Khan and his wife.’
Zacharias Miah, defending Amin, pointed out that Khan is ‘not shy’ about his wealth on his BBC Three reality television show Meet the Khans.
‘You are not shy in telling the world about your luxury lifestyle and the luxury items you have with you,’ he said.
Khan replied: ‘I’m not shy, I have worked hard for it.’
The specially commissioned rose-gold, diamond- encrusted watch has never been recovered. The case continues.
‘I didn’t want him to pull the trigger’