Three men who robbed 247 Kettles luxury watch shop 'linked to Maurice Sines' which led to manager's suicide are jailed

Three men have been jailed for their involvement in the £1.1m robbery of a luxury watch shop "linked to Maurice Sines" the day after which store manager Oliver White took his own life.

Mr White, 27, was put in a headlock and tied up during the raid at the 247 Kettles shop in Richmond, south-west London, in May 2024 while more than 70 high-value uninsured watches were stolen.

Robbery mastermind Mannix Pedro, 38, (above middle) of Woking, Surrey, was today, February 6 2026, jailed for 20 years, Kyle Mehmet, 40, (top left) of Rotherham, who held Mr White in the headlock, got 18 years, while Michael Holmes, 34, (top right) of Sheffield, who took part in an earlier dry run got 13 years after they were all convicted of conspiracy to rob.

Pedro and Mehmet claimed in court it was an "inside job" and they had not actually taken part in a robbery, while Holmes claimed he had nothing to do with it.

But the jury at Woolwich Crown Court convicted them.

Pedro was convicted in February 2025, while Mehmet and Holmes were convicted during a retrial last November.

Junior Kunu, who was filmed placing the watches into a rucksack while Mehmet held Mr White, was cleared of conspiracy to rob after he claimed the heist was staged, Mr White was in on it and so no force was used.

He said he was offered £5,000 to put the watches into a bag and if it had been a genuine robbery Mr White could have hit the panic alarm.

A fifth suspect, Michael Ashman, is still on the run.

During the trial, it was claimed by the defence that the shop was a front for organised crime, linked to Sines who has previously been connected to the Kinahan Cartel. Read our special report on this here.

The robbers were caught after Flying Squad detectives, who specialise in investigating robberies, trawled through hundreds of hours of CCTV from across the country to piece together what happened. 

Mehmet and Kunu visited the store in Kew Road in May 2024 and filled a rucksack with high-value watches.

Detective Constable Tom Waller, who led the investigation from the Met’s Flying Squad, said: "Throughout this investigation Oliver has been in our thoughts and we have remained committed to securing justice for his family. His death is a tragic reminder that crimes such as robbery have a significant impact on victims.

"This was an audacious robbery that was several months in the planning.

“Due to the dedication and excellent detective work of our officers, we were able to track these dangerous criminals down and bring them before for the courts."

On 25 May 2024 Mehmet and another man visited the jewellers in Kew Road in Richmond after making an appointment with the owner. 

After initially appearing to be normal customers, they tied Oliver up before filling a rucksack with high-value watches. 

The Met was called and officers began an investigation. They recovered CCTV from the jewellers which had captured the incident. By working back, they were able to identify the car the men had arrived in from Acton.

Along with phone data, officers used this evidence to link the two men to three others they believed had been involved in planning the robbery.

Paul Goddard, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said "the greed of these three men had considerable, and tragic, consequences".

He added: "Not only did the business they targeted suffer the loss of over £1m worth of stock, Oliver White, who was working at the premises, took his own life the following day as a direct result of the robbery.

"Our thoughts are with Oliver's loved ones for the terrible loss they have suffered."

An inquest into Mr White's death is due to take place.