The number of luxury thefts in London has surged by 22 per cent in the past year – with nearly 10,000 watches, handbags and pieces of jewellery stolen by criminals.
Gangs of robbers frequently target the capital’s high-end shopping and entertainment districts to grab valuables from e-scooters and mopeds, with wealthy tourists a common target.
Westminster is the most targeted borough and saw more than 1,596 reported incidents in the past year – nearly double second placed Kensington and Chelsea (810). Also in the top five are Ealing (618), Barnet (618) and Camden (504).
Often these thefts are uncomfortably intimate, as rings – the most commonly stolen type of jewellery – are ripped off victims’ fingers and other treasured valuables like necklaces and earrings taken at knifepoint.
And thugs do not care about the age of vulnerability of their targets, with shocking footage emerging last month of a man attempting to grab an elderly lady’s handbag outside the five-star Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair.
According to the latest data – uncovered by London criminal defence solicitors Lawtons through freedom of information requests to the Met – designer handbags are the items that have seen the largest increase in theft since 2022 (up 19%).
Watch thefts have fallen by 8% – but only 1.25% of these were recovered by the police.
The most targeted designer watch brand was Rolex, accounting for 17% of total watch thefts in the past year. This was followed by Cartier (3%) and Omega (2%). The most common handbag brands include Louis Vuitton (6%) and Chanel (4%).
The data covers reports to the Met between February 2023 and February 2024, with luxury items defined as watches worth over £3000 and jewellery and handbags over £1000. There were 9,433 luxury thefts in total.
The footage from Mayfair – filmed on August 9 – shows a woman walking out of Brown’s Hotel as a robber wearing a green coat, black jeans and white trainers attempts to grab her handbag.
Members of the public rush to her aid, grabbing the thief and shielding the woman. Another man with his hood up, possibly an accomplice to the crime, jumps around ineffectually during the ruckus.
Eventually, a larger man wrestles the criminal away, who drops the bag as he escapes, running off along with the man in blue.
Harrowing proof of the impact of luxury crimes came in May when robbers rushed into a watch store in affluent Richmond, south-west London, before restraining a salesman by the neck as they stole the goods inside.
The shop, 247 Kettles, was equipped with safety measures including panic buttons, alarms, smoke screens and security doors – but procedures were not followed and Oliver White, 27, was on his own when the gang struck.
Mr White was tragically found dead hours later, with his family saying they believe he took his own life ‘due to the anguish and distress of this terrible incident’ after he was left ‘traumatised and unable to speak‘.
A spate of luxury watch muggings in London is putting wealthy owners off flaunting their accessories – and may even have even contributed to collapsing demand for high-end timepieces.
The value of secondhand watches, as tracked by the Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, is down more than 40 per cent since its peak in April 2022.
However, the Met would point to the latest fall in luxury watch thefts as proof of the success of undercover sting operations carried out in the West End last year.
Plain-clothed officers volunteered to go out wearing valuable timepieces after analysis showed thieves tend to target well-heeled victims leaving pubs and clubs between 11pm and 4am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in Soho, also part of the Westminster district.
Over two operations, which ran from October 2022 to December 2022 and March 2023 to October 2023, 27 people were arrested and subsequently charged.
Of these, 21 were convicted – with 14 sentenced to a total of 26 years in prison.
Abdi Malik Mohamed, 20, joined Omar Hassan Hussein, 25, Sayid Mohamed, 22, and Abdullahi Mohammed Osman, 22, in attempting to yank the watch from Chris Hall’s wrist in the Soho area of London on 27 October 2022.
Dramatic CCTV footage shows the moment Hussein shields Mr Hall – the alias of the undercover cop – from the rest of the group who have followed him from the Blue Posts pub on Berwick Street where he pretended to be hopelessly drunk.
Hussein then clearly tries to grab the watch, while the others, including Mohamed, who was 19 at the time of the offence, pile in. Other undercover officers then sprint in, catching the thieves in the act.
All the thieves were detained and arrested except Mohamed, who calmly walked away in his distinctive white shoes with black laces.
He later returned to the scene of the crime without his jacket on, where he spoke to Sayid Mohamed. Officers recognised him from his shoes and he was arrested.
Robber Monique Roach, 24, was jailed for seven years in 2020 for biting 70-year-old Victoria Adenle’s finger as she stole her wedding ring on the widow’s doorstep in Hackney.
The Met said it ‘understood’ the impact that robberies had on victims given they were ‘invasive and sometimes violent’ crimes.
Commander Owain Richards said the force was targeting hotspot areas with more patrols and using technology to build intelligence and track stolen items.
Dawn Mcknight, criminal defence solicitor at Lawtons Solicitors, said: ‘Thieves tend to operate in affluent areas and tourist hotspots, scouting for luxury watch and jewellery owners to target. Robberies are occurring in owners’ cars, homes and on the street, often in broad daylight.
‘It’s important that victims and witnesses contact the police as soon as the theft occurs – the first hour after the incident takes place can be critical to catching the suspect. Reporting the incident can help your cause in these circumstances.
‘People are definitely more conscious of wearing designer items nowadays, especially in major cities like London. Watch owners should keep their watches entirely hidden from sight when in public spaces by keeping sleeves rolled down and car windows shut.’
