Jail for Liberty’s smash and grab raiders

Two ‘smash-and-grab’ robbers who carried out a series of terrifying raids on stores including Liberty’s were jailed for a total of 18 years.

Alfie Atherton, 29, and Reed Roberts, 30, worked as part of an organised robbery gang based in Flaxham Court, King’s Cross between from 29 January to 3 March last year.

The pair used stolen mopeds with fake numberplates, concealing their identities with motorcycle helmets and builders’ high-vis jackets.

Security guard Mohammed Rahman war working at Liberty’s when he saw Atherton smash a window with a concrete block at 1:15am on 29 January last year.

The burglar climbed through the window wearing a motorcycle helmet and began stuffing over £20,530 worth of perfume into a builder’s sack.

But when the security team confronted Atherton, the thief pulled out a large rambo-style knife and shouted: ‘P****hole, get back or I’ll stab you! I will f***ing stab you!’

The security team watched as Atherton climbed out the window onto Carnaby Street before Roberts drove him away from the scene.

But the burglar dropped his knife which was covered with Atherton’s DNA, confirming he was the Liberty’s raider.

Two days later Syed Naqvi was at work putting cash boxes at Sainsbury’s cashpoints on Clerkenwell Road when a man in a motorcycle helmet, possibly Atherton or Roberts, screamed at him: ‘Drop it!’

Mr Naqvi dropped the cash box containing £22,000, believing the robber was armed, then watched as the hit-and-run sped away on a dark blue moped.

Witness Mark Bury saw the pair ride past him and watched as the moped driver passed an angle grinder to the pillion rider, who grinded open the cash box, took out the cash, and left it in the street.

The pair were part of a gang of four who tried to raid Dior and Fendy stores in central London at 1am on 3 March 2020.

The gang rode a motorcycle into the Dior shop window, but could not break through the security shutters before security guards drove them off.

The gang smashed the Fendy window with a concrete breezeblock, but were again stopped by security shutters before they fled empty-handed, having caused £30,000 of damage in one night.

The pair caused an estimated £51,350 worth of damages over the four raids.

Angus Mathieson, defending Atherton, said: ‘He carried the weapon only to threaten people, he never intended to use it.

Mr Mathieson added: ‘I have looked up the latest turnover figures for Liberty’s and for Loomis, and we are talking about millions, and in the case of Loomis, billions of pounds.

‘It is the equivalent of a parking fine for me, your honour.’

Atherton received 10 and a half years imprisonment for robbing more than £40,000 in total, while Roberts received 7 and a half years as the getaway driver.

Judge Michael Holland QC, told Atherton: ‘The essence of a smash-and-grab robbery, it seems to me, contains the need for speed of the theft, because of the possibility of being interrupted.

‘Those who engage in this sort of crime choose either to come quietly, or make preparation to resist interruption.

‘You made just such a preparation by carrying a hunting lock-knife. It is not the largest lock-knife of its type, but it is an unpleasant weapon.’

Sentencing Roberts, the judge said: ‘It is quite clear that you must have known a weapon had been produced, continued working as a moped getaway driver, and waited for Mr Atherton to get on the moped.

‘There are elements of significant planning, and a degree of sophistication in these offences, but this is not the most significantly planned, sophisticated and organised robbery.’

Roberts has 12 convictions for 13 offences, including a £325,000 raid on Ernest Jones in Oxford Street in 2009 when thieves smashed Rolex and Breitling display cases with sledgehammers, grabbed 46 watches, then escaped on the back of motorbikes.

Atherton also has previous convictions for robbery and was given four years in 2011 for his part in a series of raids.

Atherton and Roberts both admitted two counts of robbery.

Roberts was sentenced to 7 and a half imprisonment in total.

Atherton, of Saxon Lea Court, Tower Hamlets, further admitted possession of a knife and two counts of attempted robbery and was sentenced to 10 and a half years imprisonment.
ENDS