An illegal immigrant who stole a suitcase carrying £250,000 worth of luxury items and jewellery from Jenson Button’s wife Brittny has been jailed for two years and four months.
Algerian Mourad Aid, 41, swiped Mrs Button’s Goyard carry-on, filled with jewellery from her wedding and heirlooms she wanted to pass onto her daughter, on February 13 as they returned from a Valentine’s getaway in Paris.
Alongside bracelets and rings of hugely sentimental value, the case contained two Kelly bags worth around £70,000. None of these items have been recovered.
The criminal – who lingered in the UK after his visa expired – fled with the suitcase while the Formula One driver had his back turned as he helped a chauffeur load a vehicle outside St Pancras International Station in London.
Aid pleaded guilty to theft at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 19 February, days after the incident.
The Algerian native also pleaded guilty to stealing a silver Rimowa cabin suitcase belonging to James Humphrey Evans on November 24, 2024.
Today at Inner London Crown Court, Ms Recorder K Blackwell KC sentenced Aid to two years and four months in prison, meaning he would be immediately deported after serving his sentence.
His sentencing comes shortly after the crime was exclusively revealed by – as Button’s American wife said she nor her husband had any interest in returning to the UK following the ordeal.
‘You are 41 years of age a man who came to the UK in 2019 on a six month tourist visa and when it expired you stayed here illegally. You have never applied for asylum, but you never applied for benefit,’ the recorder said.
‘As far as the court is aware you have never held lawful employment.
‘Whilst passing the shortest sentence I can that is commensurate with my public duty, the sentence will result in your automatic deportation once it is served.
‘I give you full credit for pleading guilty at the first opportunity.
‘You have no convictions in the UK so I treat you as a man of previous good character.’
The court heard Mr Evans had returned from Paris with his wife to King’s Cross station, where they decided to get an Uber at around 9.18pm on November 24 last year.
Richard Sedgwick, prosecuting, said Aid and another man undertook a ‘coordinated effort’ to make off with the case, with one speaking to the driver as another removed the bag from the boot and took off.
Mr Evans managed to track his case to Euston Square and then to an apartment block in West London, using his iPhone.
The court heard Mr Evans managed to obtain CCTV of Aid with the help of a concierge and then handed it over to police.
Mr Sedgwick said the flat appeared have been used to store stolen goods, with two laptops, one belonging to Mr Evans, wrapped in foil – a measure that ‘stopped items from being tracked and/or wiped’.
More mobile phones were found in the fridge and wrapped in foil, the court was also told, along with ten suitcases were found at the flat, as well as 30 pairs of sunglasses.
The Algerian had also been violating his bail conditions barring him from King’s Cross station, on the day he stole Ms Button’s suitcase.
Ms Recorder K Blackwell KC added that while Aid didn’t control ‘the stolen goods processing centre’ found by police, he was ‘closely connected to it’.
She said Aid ‘flouted’ his bail conditions to not enter King’s Cross noting he ‘went there to commit another crime when (he) saw Mr and Mrs Button.’
Referencing how he initially denied stealing Mrs Buttons bag in police interviews, the judge added: ‘You proceeded to continue these lies, continuing to attempt to deflect responsibility onto anyone else but yourself.’
The amount stolen from Mr Evans was of an unknown value but the contents of his suitcase included £500 cufflinks.
‘It would appear he was keeping an eye out for travellers coming off the Eurostar,’ prosecutor Mr Sedgwick said.
Aid was arrested four days later by plain clothes officers in Hatton Gardens on February 17, where he told a ‘succession of lies’, Mr Sedgwick said. Another man living in the flat was also arrested.
In police interviews, Aid claimed to have been in Algeria for a funeral, but later admitted to taking the Goyard bag. He claimed to have given the suitcase to charity.
In a victim statement, Mrs Button said Aid had ‘stripped away her sense of safety, security and peace of mind.’
Ms Abbey Robertson, in mitigation, described Aid as a ‘cog in a machine’, adding that the thief had fallen ‘into bad company and made decisions out of character for him as someone with previously good character’.
Ms Robertson also said he was ‘someone who was easily led’, was in a desperate situation regarding his immigration status, and spoke little English.
The defence also argued Aid had ‘expressed remorse for the offences’, adding he came from a ‘difficult background’ in Algeria, where he left due to concerns for his life which he maintains are still live.
It was also heard his brother has been murdered in his home country and Aid had been struggling to come to terms with his grief.
Speaking to the Mail last month, Brittny recalled how the theft had robbed her of any zeal to spend time in Britain after Aid had run off with the suitcase, which was packed with sentimental items she wished to pass on to her daughter.
‘He had his back on mine, and a guy just came and swooped it. We didn’t even see him do it,’ she said.
‘So they were probably watching us. We had no idea until Jenson went, ‘Wait where is your bag’ and he raced off trying to find it, but he [the thief] was already gone.’
The interior designer burst into tears following the ‘traumatising’ ordeal which cast a dark cloud over their getaway, as quickly heading to the airport to return to their home in California.
‘I just started crying, I was a little upset with Jensen because I felt like he kind of dropped the ball a little but its not his fault someone was watching us,’ she said:
‘He also did get his bag stolen a few months ago in a car park in London. It definitely was shocking that I just didn’t think.
‘I’m normally pretty cautious when I’m out in public and travelling, but I just didn’t think that there were gangs literally just waiting for people and watching.’
The mother-of-two will likely never retrieve her stolen items, which where listed online only days after the incident, serving another blow following the California wildfires that threatened their home alongside countless others earlier this year.
Recalling the heartbreaking moment, when she saw the bags listed online, she said: ‘Unfortunately, I saw the shady looking photos of these guys holding my bags on their lap.
‘[And] I knew I was probably never getting them back, and who knows how many hands it had touched – at that point I was not really interested. I wasn’t going to send anyone to meet with these people.
‘I knew they were mine, because one of the Kelly bags was missing a strap, which I had left it in LA.’
She added: ‘A lot of people assume, ‘Your husband bought you those’ but actually I bought about half of them and I worked really hard and to have someone come up to me and take them from me – it’s just frustrating.
‘And I know people are going to say, first world problems, but whether you’re getting robbed of something that’s not worth a lot of value. If it’s sentimental, its sentimental.
‘My dad was a police officer, so I was raised not to steal from people. I would rather have less and feel good about myself than steal from people and take what isn’t mine.’
The interior designer had hoped to pass on the valuable bags onto her daughter, and that she also considered them to be a long-term investment for her children.
‘I was planning to pass down to my daughter. It’s just crazy,’ she said: ‘I don’t really have many things from my parents.’
The former Playboy model said the ordeal has marred her view of the UK, as she previously revealed London ‘doesn’t feel the same’ as when she started dating the Forumla One driver 10 years ago.
Jenson who is believed to be worth around £123million, according to The Sun, met in 2016 after being introduced by friends in Los Angeles. Prior to his relationship with his current wife the F1 star was married to Jessica Michibata.
‘I’ve heard countless stories,’ she said: ‘When we first started dating we would go to London, and it was such like a nice place to be, and now it just feels very kind of dark and scary.
‘My husband and I we really have no interest going back to the UK and it’s a shame, because, you know, we will have to go back for family and work
‘It just feels so unsafe and doesn’t feel how it once was, and its just unfortunate because that’s where my children’s grandmother and aunts live.’
British Transport Police Detective Sergeant Marc Farmer previously labelled Aid’s actions ‘brazen and opportunistic’.
He added: ‘It hammers home just how sneaky these sorts of criminals really are and why it’s so important to keep one eye on your belongings at all times.’