A watch dealer has been found dead 24 hours after two robbers placed him in a chokehold and raided his London jewellery store.
Two unarmed thieves entered a dealership in the affluent area of Richmond in west London on Saturday afternoon and assaulted a member of staff before stealing a number of high value watches.
Police have now confirmed that the victim, who is from Surrey, has died and his next of kin have been informed.
A Met Police spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of the death of a man in Surrey on Sunday, 26 May. This is being investigated by officers from Surrey Police and is not being treated as suspicious at this time.
‘The man who died was the victim of a robbery at a jewellers in Richmond on Saturday, 25 May.
‘We ask that the privacy of his family is respected at this difficult time and moving CCTV footage of the incident involving the victim is not shared on social media.’
The incident, which took place at around 2.50pm on Saturday, sees the pair run off with a large loot of watches.
In the attack, the two men can be seen initially sitting at the other side of the desk to the victim, who appears to be fixing a white watch for them.
One man, wearing a grey hoodie and ripped blue jeans, is sat down on a bright orange seat as the dealer goes about his work.
The other, wearing blue jeans, a blue and white t shirt and sunglasses on the top of his head, is stood leaning over the desk while the victim is distracted by the timepiece.
The man on his feet then suddenly grabs the dealer by both arms and violently pushes him across the room on his chair into a corner.
His accomplice then hops into action and dashes to a counter in the store and sweeps up a handful of items – all while the other keeps the victim in a chokehold.
As the dealer tries to wriggle free, the man with the sunglasses seems to tighten his grasp to make sure he does not escape.
The staff member watches on helplessly as the other robber crams the watches into a bag, which is on the back of the man who has him in the headlock.
The victim then stops resisting as the rucksack continues to be filled with items from the store’s shelves.
The robber even grabs a couple of things to steal from the table, over which the dealer was initially fixing the watch.
Throughout, the man with the sunglasses appears to be speaking to the victim while he keeps him in a firm chokehold.
The other robber meanwhile keeps piling items into the bag and his accomplice turns his attention away from the dealer and starts speaking to him.
The bag-filler then yanks open cabinets and pulls open drawers to grab more watches and add to the loot.
At one point, he seems to take more than he can carry and drops an item onto the shop floor.
The pair appear to decide that they have taken enough and, after a hand gesture from the man with sunglasses, the other robber takes a handful of zip ties from the rucksack and lays them on the table before the video ends.
This comes after it was revealed that a machete-wielding thug who threatened to chop off singer Aled Jones’s arm in front of his teenage son unless he ‘f***ing* handed over his £17,000 Rolex watch was handed a two-year training and detention order.
It forms part of a wider rise of luxury watch muggings in London, which is putting wealthy owners off flaunting their expensive purchases – and may be contributing to collapsing demand for high-end timepieces.
High-profile businessman Devin Narang recently used a summit with Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy to warn Indian executives were putting off visiting London due to their fears about falling victim to muggers.
The renewable energy entrepreneur raised concerns about watch thefts in upmarket areas.
He said in February: ‘People are being mugged in the heart of London, in Mayfair – all CEOs in India have had an experience of physical mugging and the police not responding.’
London’s street crime epidemic last year saw ‘theft from a person’ offences – which includes stealing watches, handbags and mobile phones – soar by 27 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.
Metropolitan Police figures show there were 72,756 of those crimes reported in the year to 2023, up from 57,468 in 2022.
And London’s Westminster district – which includes well-heeled Mayfair – saw such crimes leap by an above-average 40 per cent, with 25,650 rather than 18,310.
There were more than 300 watches stolen in the West End alone worth a total of nearly £4million in the six months to October 2022.
In April that year former British boxing champion Amir Khan was accosted by a gunman who made off with his custom-made £72,000 watch as he left a restaurant in east London.
Moped and e-bike gangs have been identified as prolific culprits – while not only watches but also mobile phones are increasingly being seized, including in a brazen raid from a woman near London’s Regent’s Park last month.
Worldwide, the number of watches recorded as lost or stolen has more than tripled over the last 12 months, the Watch Register database revealed last week.
New figures from the business showed the value of registered stolen and lost luxury watches has risen to £1.5billion – up by 236 per cent compared to a year ago.
The Met Police has appealed for anyone who recognises the two men involved in the latest Richmond robbery to get in touch.
In a statement, the force said: ‘The incident happened at around 14:50hrs on Saturday, 25 May in Kew Road.
‘Two men, who were not armed, entered the shop and assaulted a member of staff before stealing a quantity of high value watches.
‘Anyone who recognises these two men or has information that could assist police is asked to call 101 or ‘X’ @MetCC and quote CAD4555/25May.
‘You can also provide information anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.’