UK Teen Found Guilty After Stealing Nearly £200K in Luxury Watches

An 18-year-old has been sentenced to three years after stealing an unbelievable £195,000 worth of Rolex and other luxury watches during the summer. Patrick McDonagh, together with an unidentified accomplice, targeted stores in Chelmsford, Northampton, and Chichester last year, using a distraction scheme to blatantly steal from the stores.

 

Source: Essex Life

McDonagh would walk into a store, acting like a customer interested in trying on a Rolex. While staff retrieved the watch from a locked cabinet, his accomplice would barge in, creating a chaotic scene. In the confusion, McDonagh would slip out with the watch on his wrist.

 

One of the incidents, at Goldsmiths in Chelmsford, saw McDonagh swipe a £37,100 Rolex. His accomplice reportedly threatened staff, saying he’d kill them if they followed. Similar heists followed in Northampton, where a £30,000 watch was stolen, and Chichester, where the duo grabbed multiple watches worth £119,400.

 

Source: Essex Life

Police eventually tracked McDonagh through DNA left at one of the scenes. In court, it was revealed he claimed he 

was forced into the crimes to pay off a drug debt. Judge Jamie Sawyer wasn’t buying it, calling out McDonagh’s escalating behaviour and clear disobedience of the law.