Jewellery store manager took his own life after taking part in ‘staged’ £1.4m raid, accused tells court
5 February 2025, 14:59
An alleged robbery where watches worth £1.38 million were stolen was "staged" and everyone involved knew, including the jewellery store manager who later killed himself, a court has heard.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Junior Kunu, 30, and Mannix Pedro, 37, are charged with conspiring with others to commit robbery after more than 70 luxury watches were stolen from the 247 Kettles shop in Richmond on May 25 last year.
Oliver White, 27, office manager of the south-west London store, killed himself the following day "as a direct result" of the robbery, jurors had previously been told.
But Mr Kunu repeatedly stated while giving evidence at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday: "This was not a robbery, this was staged.”
He claimed he would receive a £5,000 payment for bagging up stolen watches.
"I knew that I was going to take part in a staged robbery where everyone was consenting," Mr Kunu added.
He continued: "I knew that the person in the shop was going to comply. I knew that I was going to put watches in the bag and I had to do nothing else."
Michael Ashman and Kyle Bowrage, who were also allegedly involved, fled abroad shortly after May 25 and have still not been tracked down by police.
Mr Kunu alleged Mr Bowrage had informed him of exactly what was going to happen and that it all went according to plan.
"He told me that Oliver White was going to comply, he complied," he said.
"He told me that police was not going to get called, they didn't get called. He told me that he (Mr White) wasn't going to press the panic button or anything and he didn't.
"At one point Bowrage was on one side and Oliver White was by himself. If this was a real-life robbery he would have pressed the panic button, he would have screamed or kicked up a fuss.”
The suspect claimed that everything Mr Bowrage told me happened to the “exact tee".
Mr Kunu argued "it would have been different" if Mr White had not consented."He would have pressed the panic button," he said.
Mr Kunu added: "We walked out of that place, we didn't run. There wasn't a car outside. We walked to where the car was... if this was a robbery the car would have been outside, we would have run out.
"This was, to my belief, an insurance scam. But I didn't know that."
Jurors previously heard that Mr White was put in a headlock and tied up using cable ties while the watches were stolen.
Mr Kunu this was all part of "the role play" to "make the whole thing look real"."It was a staged robbery so I believed that it was consented," he said.
"If I actually believed that this was a robbery I would have never been there. If I actually believed that he (Mr White) was uncomfortable or he looked like he was genuinely really struggling, this would have been completely different."
Mr Kunu claimed he had received a call from a certain "Mr X" asking him to be involved in the "staged robbery".
The defendant refused to name the caller over concerns for his safety and the safety of his family.He told jurors he was chosen to because he had told Mr X he was financially struggling, so he kne he needed money and that he was “naive”.
Mr Kunu accepted he was part of a "conspiracy to steal” and later admitted he knew the incident was "always going to involve violence or the threat of violence potentially".
The defendant denied making up his explanations.Woolwich Crown Court previously heard that Mr White tried to transfer £14,000 of his own savings to his bosses after the robbery.
The court also heard 247 Kettles had CCTV, panic buttons and magnetic locking doors for security measures as well as a smoke system, and mainly sold "high-end" Rolex models ranging from £3,000 to £70,000.
The prosecution alleges the defendants played different roles in the plot, with Kunu having entered the premises to carry out the robbery, while Pedro, who did not attend the shop on May 25, was "closely involved in the planning and execution"Pedro, of Cobham, Surrey, and Kunu, of Mitcham, south-west London, deny the charges.
None of the watches have been recovered, the court has heard.
The trial continues.
