A lawyer whose £3 million mansion was one of six properties ransacked by a gang of heavily armed burglars today revealed he is fleeing London, saying: “I no longer feel safe.”
The four thugs, riding stolen mopeds and wielding samurai swords, knives and crowbars, took more than £1 million of valuables from homes in Bromley, Sidcup and Beckenham in one hour.
This week, they were jailed for a total of 65 years for what police described as an “extremely vicious and violent” series of carefully planned raids.
The lawyer, a father of two, told the Standard how the gang targeted his five-bedroom home. He said: “They broke through the front gates and then smashed my front door in like it was made of butter and made off with all the jewellery and cash they could find. Luckily there was no one in otherwise who knows what could’ve happened. I know other people were roughed up by those scumbags.
“I’ve never been brave enough to watch the CCTV back or listen to them but by all accounts the gang sounded really pumped up — swearing at each other as they go into each room. They definitely knew what they were doing — it had obviously been planned for a very long time.”
Police flooded the streets after receiving calls from victims of the raids at 11am on June 19 last year. Two of the suspects were stopped in a minicab leading officers to recover £630,000 of stolen property, two mopeds and a number of weapons. A third gang member was arrested in Essex after a month on the run. The fourth was identified in February while serving a prison sentence for an unrelated burglary.
The lawyer is now in the process of selling his 3,500 sq ft property after spending thousands of pounds on security upgrades. He said: “This place is like Fort Knox now, I have CCTV, a direct line to the police, I’ve got doors installed that it would take a fire engine to get through.”
However, he said: “I’m awake every night listening out for every bang and bump, it makes you feel so vulnerable. I’m moving to the middle of nowhere, I thought it was safe here when I bought this place, but when something like this happens it makes you re-evaluate everything.
“These are nasty people and I’m glad they’re off the streets, but I’m terrified their mates could come back at any time.
“You work so hard for what you’ve got and then people like that can just come in one day and take it all away.”
Deon Onyeneke, 21, of Deptford, and Kevin Barnett, 25, of Forest Hill, were both jailed for 14 years after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated burglary at Croydon crown court on Friday. Alfie Whitten, 27, of Downham, was jailed for 19 years after being found guilty of two counts of aggravated burglary and Jason Murray-Pilgrim, 33, of no fixed address, was jailed for 18 years after a conviction on the same charges.