A man has been found guilty of plotting a £1.4 million watch robbery at a luxury jewellery story that jurors were told drove the manager to take his own life.
Mannix Pedro, 37, was ‘closely involved in the planning and execution’ of the raid of the 247 Kettles shop in Richmond on May 25 last year, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
The store manager Oliver White, 27, took his own life the next day ‘as a direct result’ of the robbery, in which more than 70 ‘high-value’ watches were taken, prosecutors said.
None of the watches stolen in the robbery have been recovered, and none were insured, despite the business being a victim of theft three years earlier, jurors were told.
Mr White was said to have felt ‘extremely upset’ about the incident, during which he was tied up and put in a headlock.
A jury found Pedro, of Woking, Surrey, guilty of the offence on Wednesday by a majority verdict of 10 to one, after more than 23 hours of deliberation.
Prosecutors said the defendant did not go into the shop during the robbery, but instead organised the use of a stolen Audi as one of two getaway cars.
Last week, Mr White’s witness statement, given to police after the alleged attack, was read to the court.
He told detectives two men entered the shop having arranged a meeting.
‘Their body language was completely relaxed and there was nothing that made me suspect anything,’ Mr White said.
‘Four watch trays were out on display. At this point in time, I felt normal, a few moments later they stood up and started gabbing the watches.
‘They started talking to each other and said “grab the watches”. They did so in a hurried way.’
He said one man grabbed him and ‘had pinned my hands across my chest’.
‘I was feeling shocked at this point… he was the only guy who got physical with me, he then bound my wrists together.’
Mr White said he was put in a headlock and could not move as they took the watches, and his skin was left reddened.
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Jurors were shown CCTV in which a man who cannot be named for legal reasons puts Mr White in a headlock while he is seated on an office chair as another man, allegedly the second defendant, Junior Kunu, puts watches into a blue backpack worn by the man holding Mr White.
The other man can then be seen restraining Mr White using white cable ties to bind his hands together.
Kunu, 30, of Mitcham, south-west London, remains on trial charged with the same offence.
The trial continues today.
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