A teen crook stole an “eye-watering” £195,000 worth of Rolex and other expensive branded watches from shops in Essex and other parts of the UK in a summer robbing spree. Patrick McDonagh has been given three years in a young offenders institution after tricking shop staff into taking out Rolex watches from secure cabinets to then steal them.
The now 18-year-old along with another man, who has not been identified, carried out three robberies in July and August last year, with one being at the Goldsmiths store in Bond Street, Chelmsford. In each robbery, McDonagh would enter the shop, show an interest in a watch, allow staff to remove it from its cabinet before his accomplice caused a scene and allowed McDonagh to leave with the jewellery.
In total, across the three robberies, he admitted, £195,450 worth of watches and jewellery were stolen from Chelmsford, Chichester and Northampton. McDonagh later admitted robbery after police traced him through DNA left at the scene of the crime.
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Prosecuting at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday (January 9), Gary Venturi shared details on the Chelmsford incident at Goldsmiths. He said: “On July 25, he entered the store and wanted to look at some of the watches. He became involved with a shop assistant asking if he could look at Rolex watches.
“They took it out of the cabinet to get the watch to try on. The watch was out of the cabinet, and Mr McDonagh was with the sales assistant, then another person entered the store and started being aggressive. Within 15 seconds of that, he stood up with the watch on his wrist and left the store.”
Mr Venturi said McDonagh’s accomplice threatened to kill the store’s staff if they followed him as he left the building. The Rolex watch stolen was worth £37,100. A very similar incident took place in a shop in Northampton on August 10 where McDonagh feigned interest in a watch in order for it to be removed from the cabinet so he could try it on.
His accomplice then entered by putting his foot in the doorway to prevent it from being shut and claimed he had a knife, with McDonagh then “walking right behind” staff members to leave with a £30,000 watch.
The Goldsmiths store in Bond Street, Chelmsford
(Image: Edward Starr Photographer)
In a third incident in Chichester in August 2024, when McDonagh tried to get a watch to try on, he and his accomplice barged into the shop assistant and then stole multiple watches when the cabinet was open, totalling £119,400.
Mitigating, Madeleine Price told the court that McDonagh, of Cherry Trees Lane, Hemel Hempstead, had remorse for his actions and had been ordered to help with the robbery to repay a debt that sprung from cannabis use.
Judge Jamie Sawyer lambasted McDonagh for his previous convictions of shoplifting and other matters and the “escalating” plans created to steal high-value items, adding that he had stolen an “eye-watering” sum of almost £200,000 worth of watches. The judge gave McDonagh three years of detention in a young offenders’ institution.