A moped robber who carried out a terrifying 45-minute crime spree through Mayfair where a £3 million Bugatti was smashed with a hammer is facing years in prison.
Ronnie Reid, 20, was one of two masked thieves who rode around the streets of central London hunting for wealthy victims wearing luxury watches.
Reid and his 15-year-old accomplice, who donned a Deliveroo outfit as a disguise, chased and rammed into their victims in incidents of shocking violence.
Reid held a machete to a woman’s face when she tried to protect her husband, while another victim was punched and kicked on the ground as the thieves swiped his £211,000 Patek Philippe watch.
At Southwark crown court on Monday, Reid was convicted of a series of offences relating to the crime spree, which took place in the space of just 45 minutes on August 21 last year. He was remanded in custody until sentencing in May.
Footage of one of the attacks was captured by a car enthusiast, who accidentally filmed the moment the 15-year-old took a hammer to the side window of Abdullah Al Basman’s Bugatti Chiron.
Mr Al Basman was sat in his £3 million supercar in traffic when he found himself under attack, apparently targeted for the luxury watch he was wearing, and he was fortunate to be able to drive away before the attempted robbery could succeed.
“The pair were primarily focused on robbing people of expensive wrist watches”, said prosecutor Dickon Reid.
“They were simply driving around looking for potential targets in the Belgravia and Mayfair district of central London.”
The first incident happened at around 4pm, when brothers Justin and Bradley Rizza - both wearing expensive Rolex watches - were walking through Cadogan Square carrying Fortnum and Mason shopping bags.
The teenage boy drove his moped towards the brothers while the other rider attempted to “box them in”, said Mr Reid.
“Justin Rizza was confronted by Reid who screamed aggressively ‘what have you got?’ and tried to get him to hand over items.
“Mr Rizza described trying to seek some form of protection by moving between parked cars, and said the moped rider was trying to run him over.”
The court heard Bradley Rizza tried to vault a fence to escape, but his shoe “became impaled on the spikes and he was suspended upside down”, said the prosecutor.
Undeterred by the failed robberies, the two moped riders rounded on Auday Tokatly 20 minutes later close to Harrods.
Mr Reid said Mr Tokatly was “dragged to the ground, kicked and punched in the head and legs”, but an attempt to steal his Rolex was thwarted when a car turned the corner, affording the victim the chance to flee and seek refuge with Harrods security.
Mr Al Basman, a guest at the 5-star Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge, was in traffic on Park Lane when his supercar was attacked.
“He heard a loud bang from the driver’s side window”, said Mr Reid. “A member of the public, a motoring enthusiast, was filming the Bugatti, and caught what happened.”
Minutes later, Michael McKeown, who was wearing a £75,000 Audemars Piguet watch, was sitting with his wife outside a restaurant when he saw the mopeds approaching.
He fled along Curzon Street in Mayfair but was knocked down by another vehicle in his attempt to escape. He was then rammed by the 15-year-old’s moped, and Mr McKeown’s wife Juste had “a machete pointed in her face” when she kicked one of the moped riders in a bid to protect her husband.
The final victim was Andrei Karkar, who was rammed to the ground and attacked in a successful bid to steal his luxury timepiece.
That robbery was caught on shocking CCTV, showing the two teenagers inflicting gratuitous violence on Mr Karkar before fleeing.
Reid denies he was one of the moped riders, despite compelling evidence linking him to the crimes.
He and the other teenager were friends and had agreed to meet at a garage in north London owned by Reid’s family. They were later caught on CCTV leaving the garage together shortly after the crime spree had ended.
The court heard the 15-year-old, who cannot be identified due to his age, has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, criminal damage, possessing an offensive weapon, robbery and five counts of attempted robbery.
Reid, from Finsbury Park, north London, denied but was convicted by a majority of 11-1 of damaging property, having an offensive weapon, four counts of attempted robbery, dangerous driving, threatening another with an offensive weapon, and robbery.
He was found not guilty of possession of the hammer used to attack the Bugatti, and of the attempted robbery of Mr McKeown.
