A teenage gang which robbed The Dorchester Hotel twice in daring smash-and-grab moped raids - one which left a passer-by in hospital - face prison.
They were found guilty on Thursday (May 7) of targeting two prestigious hotels - the other being Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in Cadogan Place, Belgravia - following a trial at Kingston Crown Court, and are expected to be sentenced on Friday (May 8).
Skye Roberts, 19, from Cubitt Street, WC1 and Fred Gosling, 18 of Portpool Lane, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery between June 9 and July 11 last year.
Gosling was also convicted of attempted robbery at Rankins Jewellers in east London on July 22 2014.
A 17-year-old boy from WC1, was found guilty of the attempted robbery of the Bethnal Green jewellers, as was Herman Yemane, 18, from Highbury New Park, N5.
The 17-year-old, Yemane, Gosling and another man, 18-year-old Adel Soufie from Hazelville Road, N19, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery in relation to an offence which took place on July 23 2014.
Reed Roberts, 24-years-old and the brother of Skye, was found not guilty of the charge.
Detectives from the Met’s Flying Squad launched the intelligence led operation investigating robberies across the Capital - codenamed Operation Morguld in 2014.
The first robbery, following a moped theft earlier, happened at 1.34am on June 10 when three scooters, each with pillion passengers, pulled up outside The Dorchester. The passengers ran into the hotel carrying slegehammers and smashed open display cases containing jewellery, grabbing a haul worth almost £120,000.
While the men were inside, a passing police van spotted the waiting scooters, but as they approached the riders they fled the scene.
They raced through Park Lane before doubling back to the hotel to pick up the robbers and flee.
In the process of escaping one of the armed robbers dropped his sledgehammer and a carrier bag which police later identified as coming from a small chain of hardware shops located close to where the armed robbers lived.
As the six men made their way at high speed down Piccadilly and along Shaftesbury Avenue one of the scooters was in collision with a woman who was crossing the road at Cambridge Circus. She was knocked unconscious and thrown 10 metres into the air, but the scooters failed to stop at the scene. A man, unconnected the robbery, stole the woman’s handbag and was later jailed , while she woman made a full recovery.
On July 7 the robbers struck again when three scooters, each with a pillion passenger, when at 3am they pulled up outside the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel.
The passengers leapt off the scooters and made their way to a two sets of doors which were both locked. One of the armed robbers then used his sledgehammer to hit the glass door to gain entry. After several attempts the glass gave way and the three were able to run into the hotel.
Staff hid while two of the armed men stole three watches worth more than £65,000, before leaving and returning to the scooters and being whisked away.
Three days later and exactly one month after the first Dorchester robbery the gang robbed the hotel for a second time, striking at 2.20am.
Again the scooters pulled up and the passengers, carrying sledgehammers and a breeze block, smashed their way in and stole watches and jewellery worth around £150,000. Officers also found £5,000 cash and large amounts of cannabis
Detectives later that day searched the Robert brothers’ home, where they discovered watches which The Dorchester later confirmed was theirs.
Reed was arrested and the following day Skye handed himself in to police.
The other four would strike again at Rankins Jewellers on July 22, but fled empty-handed.
Detective Constable Martin Lappin, from the Met’s Flying Squad, said: “This was a well planned and orchestrated series of robberies. I have no doubt that had we not apprehended these men when we did they would have continued to commit further offences.”
