Illegal immigrant gets 18 months for gang raid

A thief who bludgeoned a chef with an iron rod during a £465,000 raid at a Mayfair restaurant has been jailed for just 18 months.

Egyptian overstayer Hassan Gawish, 20, swiped the keys to a £72,000 Porsche Panamera and a £80,000 Range Rover Gold during the break-in near Marble Arch last 28 November.

Gawish was part of a gang of five who broke into the Al Arez Lebanese Restaurant on Edgware Road at 5.28am.

They stole up to £300,000 from the safe, along with £15,000 worth of jewellery belonging to the restaurant owner’s wife and the car key fobs, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Chef Nawaz Umar rushed to intervene when Gawish threatened to kill a terrified cleaner.

Gawish wrestled Mr Umar outside onto the street and began beating him with a metal pole when he struggled to escape.

Mr Umar said in a statement he had been left with bruises and cuts across his face and a pain in his jaw after the brutal attack.

Andrew Bousfield, prosecuting, said: ‘There’s a video in which you can see the defendant with what looks like a long piece of metal he proceeds to beat the chef in the street several times occasionally with a stabbing motion.

‘The Aldar restaurant on Edgware Road was closed. The only people in were the chef and the cleaners.

‘People arrive at this restaurant and the cleaner is put in a headlock and asked where the office is.

‘It’s 5.28am in the morning.

‘They go in and they go to the office upstairs and eventually make their way to a safe. The safe is taken away.

‘The men described as having northern accents get away and the defendant who spoke in Arabic and is Egyptian is the individual who said ‘I will kill you’ to the cleaner.

‘He said he had an iron rod in his hand. The defendant was removed from the premises and the chef tackled the defendant to the ground.

‘What looks like a very distressing fight on the pavement goes on for several minutes until the police arrive and arrest him.

‘Having looked at the arrest footage the defendant was then sick and he does admit that he drank alcohol. The restaurant manager said £200-300,000 in cash was taken from the safe.

‘He owns a lot of businesses, six businesses, and they were the proceeds from all of them.

‘There was also his wife’s gold jewellery, rings bracelets and necklaces worth £15,000 and there were also the keys to a Porsche Panamera and a Range Rover Gold.

‘Nawaz Umar says ‘he was pushing and pulling me. I have scratches on my face, bruises on me and my jaw hurts’.

‘This job appears to have involved a significant degree of planning and loss to the victim. There was a weapon used which was a length of metal. There appears to be a group, it was a gang activity.’

Laura Phillips, defending, said Gawish was an overstayer from Egypt and had been complying with Home Office rules not to carry out paid work.

Ms Phillips said: ‘He is a young man of 20. He was born in Egypt. He’s an overstayer and was complying with Home Office conditions. He was not permitted to work.

‘Sadly he became involved in this burglary with no convictions recorded against him. This was a number of males who were involved in this offence but we say he did not play a leading role.

‘Upon reading statements the staff say a number of males entered and one male went downstairs to keep a lookout for the staff.

‘The other males were the ones who went to the safe and made the threats.

‘Mr Gawish was left behind in the premises once the others involved had left and it was the chef who tackled him to prevent him from also leaving.’

Judge Joanna Korner, QC, questioned whether the charge of common assault was appropriate for the severity of attack.

Judge Korner said: ‘If he had these injuries it should have been an [assault occasioning ABH].

‘This was a well planned and sophisticated burglary with five of you involved.

‘You struggled with Mr Umar and caused him injury. The amount of money, either that alleged by the owner or taking it at the lowest possible sum of £60,000, is very large.

‘This offence is far too serious for anything other than imprisonment.’

Gawish, of no fixed address, admitted common assault and burglary.

He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.