Jury told to convict watch theft accused

A prosecutor urged jurors to return a guilty verdict against a man who allegedly stole watches worth more than £500,000 from a five-star hotel.

Advocate Jane Farquharson told a jury yesterday that there was enough evidence available to convict Richard Fleming,42, of robbing a boutique at Gleneagles Hotel.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that police had conducted a “painstaking and meticulous” investigation into the armed robbery at the Perthshire resort in June 2017.

Ms Farquharson told the jury that detectives had concluded that Mr Fleming was a member of the three-man team who carried out the raid.

The court had earlier heard Mr Fleming, of London, claim that he didn’t commit the armed robbery.

He told jurors that at the time of the offence, he was buying drugs in Parkhead, Glasgow.

Yesterday was the tenth day of proceedings against Mr Fleming. He denies armed robbery and other charges.

Prosecutors claim that on June 27 2017, at Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Perthshire, Fleming did, while acting with others and with his face masked, assault a hotel employee called Louis Hutchison.

It’s alleged that was in possession of “hammers, a machete and a self loading pistol” at the time of the assault.

It’s then claimed that he repeatedly struck and smashed display cabinets at the shop before robbing the premises of a “quantity” of Rolex watches.

It’s also alleged that on the same date, at Gleneagles, Fleming assaulted hotel security supervisor Euan Wishart by brandishing a hammer at him before repeatedly pointing a pistol at him.

He has entered pleas of not guilty to the charges. The trial continues.