After a joint investigation by the Met’s Flying Squad and Westminster Robbery Squad, two men were jailed for violently stealing a £100,000 watch from a group of US visitors.
Thomas Lenaghan, 24, of Rylston Road, SW6, and Ronnie Fitzgerald, 20, of Valence Avenue, Romford, were both sentenced to six years and nine months in prison on Tuesday, January 24 at Isleworth Crown Court for conspiracy to rob, threatening a person with a bladed article in a public place, possessing a stun gun, and threatening a person with a stun gun.
At an earlier hearing on October 5, 2022, both pleaded guilty to all charges.
John Stovell, 51, of North End Road, W14, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to dealing in stolen goods and assisting an offender.
DC “This was a shocking and violent robbery that understandably left the victims shaken and feeling incredibly fortunate they did not suffer more serious injury,” said Robert Rodak, who worked on the investigation. Everyone should be able to walk down our streets without fear of being victimised by this type of crime, which is why we are doing everything we can to remove offenders like Lenaghan, Fitzgerald, and Stovell from our streets.” This conviction was the result of a collaborative effort in which our local team was assisted by the Flying Squad’s specialised skills in catching those responsible. We will continue to target and relentlessly pursue robbers who commit violent crime in London if we work together.
Three people were crossing Pavilion Road in Chelsea around 00:15 on November 16, 2021, when they were approached by a group dressed in black and wearing balaclavas.
One of the victims, a 31-year-old man, was pushed to the ground and hit from behind with a stun gun. The suspects surrounded him and demanded that he hand over his £100,000 Rolex watch. As he tried to stop the attack, his father was threatened with a knife, which cut through his coat but did not injure him.
Their friend was also threatened with a stun gun and forced to hand over her £200 watch.
The suspects then jumped into a waiting car and drove away from the scene.
Despite the fact that the attack was captured on several CCTV cameras and mobile phones, those responsible were not identified because they had their faces covered and wore generic clothing.
The Jaguar F-PACE they were driving was stolen and had false plates, making it difficult to identify and track down.
Detectives from the Met’s Flying Squad painstakingly examined the footage and discovered a small sticker on the bottom right corner of the car’s windscreen.
They then combed through police reports to determine how many Jaguar F-PACEs had been reported stolen and gone unrecovered in recent months, leaving them with 30-40 potential vehicles.
The team contacted each owner to see if any of their vehicles had any distinguishing features.
One person told officers that their car had a parking permit for their child’s school, which matched the description of the sticker seen on the car used in the robbery.
This was the breakthrough moment the team had been looking for as it allowed them to discover the car’s true ‘identity’. From there, they were able to determine where the car had been prior to and after the robbery and pursue additional CCTV opportunities, resulting in footage of the robbers meeting without masks.
Lenaghan, Stovell, and Fitzgerald were identified after photos of their faces were circulated.
The car was discovered in a carpark on North End Road, SW6, and a forensic examination linked the men to it.
In recent months, we have been focusing our resources in hot spot areas where we know watch robberies have increased,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Owain Richards, who is in charge of local policing in Kensington and Chelsea.
Our dedicated robbery team works tirelessly to identify and prosecute those responsible for these types of crimes, and we hope that this case demonstrates that anyone committing these crimes will be identified and prosecuted.”
