A £1.38m watch robbery in a London store was staged, and everyone involved, including the manager who later took his own life, consented to the plan, a court has been told.
Junior Kunu, 30, and Mannix Pedro, 37, are facing charges of conspiring to rob a shop in Richmond, south-west London, on May 25, 2024. During the alleged robbery, 70 watches were stolen from the 247 Kettles store.
Oliver White, 27, the store’s manager, died by suicide the following day, which the court was told was directly linked to the robbery.
At Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday, Kunu stated, “This was not a robbery, this was staged.” He said he was offered £5,000 to help take the watches and that everyone involved, including White, was aware and had agreed to the plan.
Kunu, who is from Mitcham, south-west London, claims he thought the incident was an insurance scam and would not have participated if he had known it was a real robbery.
Two other men, Michael Ashman and Kyle Bowrage, are said to have fled abroad shortly after the event. Kunu told the court that Bowrage had informed him of the plan and that everything went as expected.
“He told me that [Oliver White] would comply, and he did. He told me there would be no police, and there weren’t any. He said White wouldn’t press the panic button, and he didn’t,” Kunu testified.
Earlier, the jury heard that White had been put in a headlock and tied up while the watches were stolen. Kunu explained that these actions, including the use of cable ties, were part of a “roleplay” to make the robbery appear real.
Kunu claimed he was recruited by an unnamed individual who knew he needed money. He declined to reveal the recruiter’s identity, citing safety concerns for himself and his family. “He knew that I was just… naive,” Kunu said.
Connor Thornton, co-owner of the store, testified last week that he did not believe it was an inside job.
White’s mother, Amy Keane, described her son as “a really hardworking young man” who had been devastated by the robbery. The court was told that White had tried to transfer £14,000 of his own savings to his employers after the incident.
The prosecution claims that Pedro, of Cobham, Surrey, played a key role in planning the robbery, though he was not present at the scene.
The trial is ongoing.
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