Robbery conspiracy accused told police ‘every man loves a watch’, court hears

A man accused of driving a getaway car in a £1.38 million robbery told police “every man loves a watch”, a court has heard.

Mannix Pedro, 37, and Junior Kunu, 30, are charged with conspiring with others to commit robbery after watches worth more than £1.3 million were stolen from a south-west London jewellery shop last year.

More than 70 “high-value” watches were taken from the 247 Kettles shop in Richmond in the afternoon of May 25, their trial at Woolwich Crown Court was told.

The trial has heard that office manager Oliver White, 27, was put in a headlock and tied up during the robbery.

Jurors were previously told that Mr White died by suicide the next day “as a direct result” of the incident.

At least two others said to have been involved are at large – Michael Ashman and Kyle Bowrage.

Pedro, who did not enter the shop during the robbery, was “closely involved in the planning and execution”, including the use of a stolen Audi as one of two getaway cars, the court has heard.

He was first arrested on May 29 and in a police interview that evening he told officers he works in cars and clothing, the court heard.

Pedro told officers he had never bought or sold watches and said a Rolex in his home was fake.

“I think every man loves a watch – cars, watches and women,” he said in the transcript of his police interview read to the court on Thursday.

“We are all the same.”

Jurors were also taken through a timeline of events after the robbery.

Pedro drove for hours in the evening after the incident, the court heard, with CCTV and phone tracking showing he drove from Richmond to Woking, Surrey, after the incident and then to Colchester, Essex, a distance of around 100 miles.

At 10.30pm on May 25, a mobile phone linked to the suspects searched for an “orbital watch winder”, a device used for mechanical watches, jurors heard.

Pedro was seen at the food hall of Clacket Lane motorway services off the M25 at 11.23pm.

Mobile phone data shows Pedro arrived home in Cobham, Surrey, in the early hours of the morning, jurors were told.

On the evening of May 26, Pedro drove a BMW X4 up north to Bowrage’s home in Rotherham and travelled to Sheffield and Doncaster before returning to Bowrage’s address at 2.20am on May 27, the court heard.

The pair then left to return to London at 7.36am.

Prosecutor Edward Brown KC previously told jurors that Bowrage and Ashman fled abroad soon after May 25 and have not yet been arrested.

Earlier on Thursday, jurors were told data extracted by detectives from one of Pedro’s phones seized when he was arrested showed searches for “Rolex watch dial” were made on May 28, the day before he was arrested.

One of Pedro’s phone numbers also forwarded images to a contact saved as Peace And Love which matched with Kettles 247’s master stocklist provided to police by Mr White, the court heard.

Pedro, of Cobham, and Kunu, of Mitcham, south-west London, deny the charges.

None of the watches have been recovered, Mr Brown previously said.

The trial continues.