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Crime

01st Dec 2021

Shocking CCTV footage shows robbers dressed like Harry Potter villains during jewellery heist

Steve Hopkins

The men dressed in flowing black robes – reminiscent of the Dementors who haunt the wizard jail in the Harry Potter franchise

Shocking CCTV footage shows robbers dressed like Harry Potter villains as they carried out a heist at a jewellery store armed with an axe in a terrifying raid that left a customer needing hospital treatment.

Connor Willis, 24, Anthony Wheeldon, 40, and Dean King, 28, were jailed Tuesday after admitting their crimes at the High Court in Edinburgh.

CCTV footage shows the gang rob the Jeweller, on Union Street, Dundee just before 11am on September 23, 2019.

In the video two of the men are seen dressed in flowing black robes – reminiscent of the Dementors who haunt the wizard jail in the Harry Potter franchise.

A stolen car is seen pulling up outside while King rings the store’s doorbell.

When a member of staff welcomed him, King bends down to tie his shoelace, blocking the door from closing. The staff member became suspicious and tried to slam the door but was too late.

Three men left the car and ran into the shop carrying a hammer, an axe, and a mallet.

The gang threatened staff and customers and smashed the display cabinets, taking two Rolex watches worth £17,850.

A customer who tried to fight the robbers was hit on the head with the mallet and had to be taken to hospital.

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The gang fled when staff set off an anti-robbery fog device.

Willis was involved in an earlier robbery in Edinburgh on August 31, 2019. He and a gang of four other men robbed Miena Jewellery in Great Junction Street.

They pulled up in front of the shop in a car stolen from a house in Edinburgh the night before. One stayed in the car while the three others got out and used a sledgehammer to batter the locked door.

 

Once inside, the gang threatened to kill the shop owner and one attacked him with an axe while the others smashed display cabinets grabbing silver chains, necklaces and bangles, gold bars, chains and coins, watches, and earrings valued at around £27,000.

The robbers sped off in the getaway car after the shop owner set off the fire extinguisher and filled the shop with fog.

Jennifer Harrower, Procurator Fiscal for Specialist Casework, said: “These men travelled to Scotland, armed themselves, and carried out violent robberies in broad daylight.

“These were both terrifying ordeals for the staff and customers involved, particularly the two men who were attacked and injured during the robberies.

Willis, Wheeldon, and King pleaded guilty to their crimes on October 7 at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Willis was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment and five years on extended sentence after pleading guilty to assault to injury, robbery, and assault and robbery.

Wheeldon was jailed for 11 years and four years extended sentence for assault and robbery, and King was sentenced to nine years and two months in prison for assault and robbery.

Topics:

Crime,robbery