A Peckham man was among four members of an organised crime group jailed for looting more than £465,000 worth of designer goods in a series of ram-raids across London’s West End shops.
The men, including Anthony Alleyne from Peckham, smashed their way through the doors of three luxury clothes stores last year using vehicles and a sledgehammer, the Metropolitan Police said.
The 54-year-old admitted conspiracy to burgle in connection with the raids, alongside Martin Dunne, 37, Gary Lynch, 32, Omar Bakali and Jamie Claydon, both 28.
Four of the five were sentenced just before Christmas on Tuesday December 21 to time behind bars.
Only Jamie Claydon, 28 from Newbourne, Suffolk, escaped jail with a two years’ suspended imprisonment sentence. He had also pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods.
A haul of Balenciaga and Valentino handbags were taken from Selfridge’s on Oxford Street before the group fled undetected in a Jaguar and an Audi-S with fake number plates during the first offence on July 14 last year.
It was only after the second burglary that officers from the Met’s Flying Squad were able to begin tracking down the men using CCTV, DNA evidence and phone records.
DNA taken from the vehicle abandoned at the scene of their second smash- and-grab linked Alleyne to the looting, the court heard. On July 24 in the early hours of the morning the gang, police said, wreaked ‘havoc’ by reversing through the front doors of Celine on Mount Street in a stolen Golf and stealing more handbags.
CCTV showed the group had met in Highgate, north London, after the offence and loaded a Ford Transit van, this the court heard linked to Lynch, with stolen goods.
Images and messages found on Bakali’s phone, police said, revealed he had tried to sell the handbags the following day.
The court heard the group was caught after breaking into Italian skiwear store Moncler on Old Bond Street using a sledgehammer in the early hours of October 9 last year.
They approached the store just after midnight in a stolen Kia and two motorbikes before stealing a number of jackets, bags and other items of clothing and fleeing the scene.
Later that day, officers conducting surveillance in Epping found Claydon in a van with a haul of Moncler clothing in bin bags.
He was arrested on suspicion of handling goods and released under investigation.
Dunne, from Waltham Abbey, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
Bakali, from Kilburn, was sentenced to four years and four months’ imprisonment.
Lynch, from Highgate, was sentenced to two years and eight months’ imprisonment.
Peckham man Alleyne, 54 received the longest sentence of four years and six months’ imprisonment.
Detective Constable Martyn Stone from the Met’s Flying Squad, said: “This was an immensely complex investigation involving a huge amount of evidence.
“The group caused havoc in the West End with buildings being severely damaged and high valued goods being stolen. These men have since discovered that crime does not pay and thanks to the complex investigative work by the Flying Squad, they will instead be spending time behind bars.”
Scotland Yard said that investigations continue to track down and bring to justice outstanding suspects who are believed to be involved in these offences.