Gang steals £100K in goods using Ford Fiesta

A court has heard that seven men from a “smash-and-grab” criminal network stole over £100,000 worth of designer items, artwork, and watches.

From May to August 2025, robbers broke into a number of upscale London establishments using sledgehammers, bricks, and a Ford Fiesta.

According to the Metropolitan Police, the series of offenses was all connected to the same “criminal network” that was active in the west London neighborhood of Paddington.

On March 17, the following individuals will be sentenced: Christopher Gibbs, 43; George O’Hare, 42; Paul Hughes, 42; Anthony Munday, 40; Lee James McCready, 46; Matthew Windrass, 50; and David Rigelsford, 37.

When McCready, a resident of Uxbridge, participated in a heist in which about £60,000 worth of watches and jewelry were taken in broad daylight from Suttons and Robertsons’ store on Edgware Road in London, he was on licence for murder in 2005.

Before fleeing to a “getaway driver” in a silver Jaguar, later identified as Munday, the two guys, identified as McCready and Windrass, stole watches and jewelry through the windows.

Prosecutor William Sneddon stated: “Mr. Keaney, the store manager, left the store after observing the two men depart through the security cameras.” Many individuals were filming, and a sizable audience had assembled.

According to his assessment, at least £59,930.00 worth of jewelry and five watches had been taken. About nine minutes passed during the entire occurrence.

“The sledgehammers were not carried as weapons but as tools, to carry out what was essentially a smash-and-grab burglary,”Munday’s defense attorney, Kane Sharpe, said.

Another theft that was captured on video featured Gibbs, O’Hare, and Hughes. The criminals broke into a Fendi store on London’s Sloane Street using a Ford Focus.

After that, they are seen stealing high-end purses before making off in a silver Mercedes and a motorcycle.

Gibbs and another unidentified man were also convicted for breaking through the closed front door of Clarendon Fine Art with a “paving block” and taking two framed pieces of art worth a total of £66,500.

Between May and July of 2025, the group successfully broke into five London stores using an identical method each time. The total value of the stolen goods during the events was £146,356.

The court also heard two failed burglaries of a watch shop in Westminster and an apothecary in Marylebone.