Gang who mugged American tourist for £100,000 Rolex are jailed for 15 years
Two violent thugs who used a stun gun to steal a £100k Rolex from a group of American tourists have been jailed for a total of 15 years.
Thomas Lenaghan, 24, and Ronnie Fitzgerald, 20, zapped their victim in Chelsea, south-west London, before taking his watch and speeding off in a stolen car.
Chilling CCTV footage shows three people crossing Pavilion Road just after midnight on November 16, 2021, when thugs dressed in black and balaclavas approach them.
One of the victims, aged 31, was pushed to the floor and hit from behind by the stun gun. The suspects then surrounded him and demanded he hand over his Rolex watch, worth around £100,000.
His father was threatened with a knife but was uninjured as he tried to stop the attack, while a woman was also threatened and forced to hand over her watch, worth around £200.
Moments later the muggers made their getaway in a stolen Jaguar F-PACE.
Despite being caught on several CCTV cameras and on mobile phones, the attackers were not identifiable as they had their faces covered and were wearing generic clothing.
The stolen Jaguar also had false plates, making it difficult to track down.
They were eventually captured after detectives from the Met’s Flying Squad painstakingly analysed the footage and managed to see the car had a small sticker on the bottom right corner of its windshield.
They used this detail to work through crime records and find out how many Jaguar F-PACEs had been reported stolen and were unrecovered in recent months, leaving them with around 30-40 possible vehicles.
One told officers their car had a parking permit for their child’s school – a description which matched the sticker.
This was the breakthrough the team had been looking for as it allowed them to discover the car’s true ‘identity’.
From there, they were able to work out where the car had been before and after the robbery and explore further CCTV opportunities, leading to footage capturing the robbers meeting without masks.
Photos of their faces were circulated and it led to the identification of Lenaghan, Stovell and Fitzgerald, who were quickly tracked down and arrested.
Lenaghan and Fitzgerald were both sentenced to six years and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to rob, threatening a person with a bladed article in a public place, possession of a stun gun and threatening a person with a stun gun.
Stovell, 51, was jailed for 18 months having pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods and assisting an offender.
DC Robert Rodak said: ‘This was a shocking and violent robbery which understandably left the victims shaken and feeling incredibly fortunate they did not suffer more serious injury.
‘Everyone should be able to walk through our streets unaffected by this type of crime and that is why we are doing everything we can to take offenders like Lenaghan, Fitzgerald and Stovell off our streets.’
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