From Channel crossing to Mayfair robbery: migrants jailed over £65k watch theft

Two Algerian boat migrants ripped a £65,000 designer watch from a driver’s wrist as he photographed his Bentley, a court heard.

Belal Amine, 26, and Gabriel Kamali, 23, snatched the Patek Philippe watch from Besart Krasniqi in Mayfair, central London, on May 11 last year.

Mr. Krasniqi was with his wife, who was pregnant with their first child, and was taking pictures of his luxury car when he inadvertently photographed the men as they robbed him, Southwark Crown Court heard.

He chased the men along Carpenter Street, but lost track of them after Kamali pushed him into a car parked nearby.

Mr. Krasniqi said in his statement read to jurors: “At about 4pm, I was with my wife at the Hideaway cafe.

“I walked around the front of my car and took a picture of my car in the sun... I was pushed on the left shoulder by a male. A second male ripped the watch off my left wrist.”

He added: “Both males ran off along Carpenter Street. A third male picked up the leather watch strap [and] ran after me. I ran up Carpenter Street chasing the males. After a few meters the third male pushed me and then knocked me to the floor.”

Amine and Kamali were smuggled across the Channel into the UK in 2019, the court heard.

Tim Williams, defending Amine, said: “He has been here for three years. He wanted to work in the UK. He is interested in working. That is what he would like to do. He would like to get a job and stay in the UK, but that is clearly not going to be possible after Your Honour passes a sentence that will inevitably lead to his deportation to Algeria.”

Anne Asfaw, defending Kamali, said: “He came in 2019, he was very young at the time. His English is not very good.”

Sentencing the pair, Judge Gregory Perrins said they had been “looking for wealthy individuals to rob.”

“The two of you sold the watch quickly and no doubt made a considerable amount of money. On any view, this was a serious, planned group attack. You were both in this together.”

He added: “There is, I’m afraid, very little mitigation for either of you. You are both in the country illegally. Neither of you has a legitimate source of income.”

Amine was jailed for four years while Kamali was sentenced to three years.

Judge Perrins told them: “Given the length of the sentence you will both be subject to an automatic deportation provision. My expectation is that you will be deported upon the completion of your sentence.”

Kamali had admitted robbery, while Amine denied the charge and was convicted by the jury.