A watch salesman who killed himself after being tied up in a £1.1million heist had been working in a shop that was a ‘front for organised crime‘, a court has been told.
Oliver White, 27, took his own life after being accused of ‘not putting up enough of a fight’ against robbers who grabbed a haul of luxury watches.
Mr White was restrained with cable ties during the heist at 247 Kettles in Kew Road, Richmond, on May 25 last year.
But in an ‘intense’ meeting with the two store owners, Joe Riley and Connor Thornton, and another man, Fred Sines, Mr White was accused of not resisting the raiders, Woolwich crown court has heard.
Jurors have heard Sines was convicted of conspiracy to transfer criminal property after the theft of the 18-carat toilet and handed a suspended sentence at Oxford Crown Court earlier this year.
The court was also told the store was allegedly a front for money laundering and the business was actually run by Sines and his father, Maurice ‘Fred’ Sines.
After the raid, Mr White had offered to compensate company owners with the money he had been saving up for a deposit on a flat with his girlfriend Alana Dredge.
He attempted to transfer his £14,000 savings to Mr Thornton and Mr Riley, who were in the US at the time of the heist.
Oliver White, 27, who was tied up during a £1.1m heist at luxury watch store 247 Kettles in Richmond, killed himself after being accused of ‘not putting up enough of a fight’, a court heard
The court was also told the store was allegedly a front for money laundering and the business was actually run by Fred Sines (pictured) and his father, Maurice ‘Fred’ Sines
Frederick Doe, 36, also known as Frederick Sines, (right) with his father outside Oxford Crown Court after being found guilty of conspiracy to transfer criminal property, over the theft of a £4.8million gold toilet from Blenheim Palace in 2019
The two men flew back from New York the evening the watches were stolen and a meeting took place at the store between Mr Thornton, Mr Riley, Mr White and Sines the following day.
The CCTV of the meeting that day has since been wiped, the court was told.
Immediately after that meeting, Mr White travelled to the woods in Shepperton, where he grew up, and took his own life.
He was later found there by a close friend.
Businessman Mannix Pedro, 38, helped plan the raid and supplied a stolen Audi used as a getaway car.
Jurors were told Pedro had already been tried and convicted of conspiracy to rob.
Kyle Mehmet, 40, allegedly grabbed Mr White’s wrists during the robbery while Junior Kunu, 31, swiped the watches, including a Rolex Sky Dweller.
Michael Holmes, 34, is said to have been part of an aborted robbery at the shop two days earlier.
Prosecutor Edward Brown KC earlier said Mr White was ‘devastated’ when Mr Thornton and Mr Riley suggested that he did not put up ‘enough of a fight’ during the robbery.
Today, Mr Riley, one of the two co-owners of 247 Kettles and a close friend of Mr White gave evidence.
Rupert Bowers, KC, for Holmes, claimed 247 Kettles was in fact a front for money laundering and the entire business was actually run by Fred Sines and his father Maurice ‘Fred’ Sines.
He also suggested the watches were taken at a convenient time so as to avoid paying tax on them.
The total value of the watches that were taken is more than £1,160,000 and none have been recovered, the court heard
Mr Bowers alluded to the fact that after police were called by Mr White, Mr Thornton called Sines to go to the store.
The barrister asked: ‘Why Fred?’
‘I don’t know, I did not make the call,’ Mr Riley said.
Mr Bowers asked: ‘Why was Mr Sines called and not the police?’
‘The police had already been called by Ollie prior to that,’ Mr Riley responded.
Mr Bowers asked: ‘So why call Fred? What has Fred got to do with it?’
‘He is a good friend of Connor’s,’ Mr Riley replied.
Mr Bowers asked: ‘Or is it that the entire enterprise is really funded by the Sines family?’
‘No, definitely not,’ Mr Bowers said.
Mr Bowers asked: ‘This is just money laundering isnt it?’
Mr Riley denied this.
Mr Bowers suggested: ‘This is a criminal enterprise with Fred Sines and his father behind it?’
‘No, not at all,’ Mr Riley said.
Mr Bowers said: ‘When that meeting finished at about 4pm, Mr White must have gone almost directly to that wood.
‘He did not go home, he did not go and see his girlfriend, he did not go and see his mother, he left that building and killed himself. What happened in that meeting, Mr Riley?’
‘He was questioned as to how he did not notice the man with the balaclava,’ Mr Riley replied.
Mr Bowers asked: ‘Why was Fred Sines in that meeting?
‘I don’t know,’ Mr Riley said.
‘Because they are his watches,’ Mr Bowers suggested.
‘No, they are not,’ Mr Riley insisted.
Mr Bowers asked: ‘How frightened was Oliver White at what took place in that meeting?
‘He was not frightened, just startled from the robbery,’ Mr Riley said.
Mr Bowers asked: ‘Who was taking the lead in that meeting?
‘Nobody was taking the lead,’ said Mr Riley.
Mr Bowers asked: ‘Was he threatened, were threats made by you, Mr Thornton or Mr Sines?’
Mr Riley denied this.
‘I suggest that what happened in that meeting terrified him,’ Mr Bowers said.
‘The video circulated on Instagram, the conversation was not friendly, it was a lot of pressure for him to deal with, I understand that,’ Mr Riley replied.
Mr Bowers asked: ‘Why was the video footage deleted?
‘I don’t know,’ Mr Riley said.
‘The reason you or Connor destroyed that footage is because you knew it would reveal what happened in that meeting, so it had to be destroyed before the police got hold of it,’ Mr Bowers said.
Today, store owner Joe Riley, one of the two co-owners of 247 Kettles and a close friend of Mr White gave evidence at Woolwich Crown Court (pictured)
‘Are you responsible for what took place, for staging this robbery, together with Mr Sines, maybe so these accounts can be doctored?
‘It is all just a front, isn’t it, you are not telling the truth Mr Riley, your account is as false now as the accounts that were submitted to HMRC.
‘Are you scared of Mr Sines, of Fred Jr, Fred Sr, are you scared of them?’
Mr Riley denied all of these questions.
Earlier in the morning, Mr Riley was asked questions by Alan Kent, KC, defending Kunu.
Within that cross-examination, it was revealed that 96 watches were left out in the store at the time of the robbery, when there should have only been two.
Mr Kent too asked about the nature of the meeting on May 26, the day after the robbery.
‘That meeting took place in the showroom, it was you and Connor Thornton that were there, and of course, Oliver and another man called Fred Sines?’
‘Yes,’ Mr Riley said.
Mr Kent asked: ‘From what you told us, you and Connor were the owners of the business. What role did Mr Sines play?’
Mr Riley explained that Mr Thornton made the call to Sines when he was in New York as Ollie was distressed.
Mr Kent asked: ‘Oliver said he got some [watches] out for other customers and forgot to put them back, were you aware there was a previous customer?’
‘Yes,’ Mr Riley said.
‘He is a bit of a pleaser so wanted to show the people the watches and we did not really get a straight answer as to why the watches were out.
‘He did not notice the male with a balaclava, it is not out of the ordinary to have it all out. Ollie saw the best in everyone.’
Mr Kent asked: ‘So there were things about what happened on 23 May and on 25 May that gave you and Connor and Fred Sines some concerns?’
‘Yes,’ Mr Riley replied.
Mr Kent asked: ‘Do you know there is no recording available of that from the CCTV cameras? Do you know how or why?
‘The cameraman said there is a 30-day timer, or a 14-day timer,’ replied Mr Riley.
Mr Kent asked: ‘Who told you that?
‘Connor,’ Mr Riley said.
Mr Kent asked: ‘So that meeting took place and ended quite abruptly, and is that because a call came through from somebody who might know the location of the watches?’
Mr Riley told the jury it was not the location but allegedly someone thought they had seen someone who had taken the watches.
When Mr Riley and others left that meeting to go and search for the supposed robber, that was the last time he saw Mr White alive.
Mr White left a note for Mr Riley, in which he apologised.
‘I have met up with Ollie’s mum and she showed me,’ Mr Riley said.
‘He wanted to apologise to you and he did not want you to think he might have something to do with it,’ Mr Kent suggested.
Pedro was arrested on May 29, 2024, and released on police bail before being re-arrested off a one-way flight to Marseille carrying four large suitcases.
Kunu had changed his appearance when he was arrested on 5 June and gave no comment to all questions.
Mehmet and Holmes were arrested in March this year and also refused to answer police questions.
Pedro, of Cobham, Surrey, denied but was earlier convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery between February 28, 2024 and May 26, 2024.
Kunu, of Mitcham, south London, Mehmet, of North Road, Rotherham and Holmes, of Rainham, Essex, all deny the same charge.
The trial continues.
