Three robbers have been found guilty of a £1.1 million heist at a southwest London luxury watch dealership which led to the victim taking his life the next day.
Kyle Mehmet, 40, Michael Holmes, 34, and Mannix Pedro, 37, were all involved in the raid last May on the 247 Kettles shop in Richmond.
Oliver White was working at the store when the robbery took place, and was dead the following day having taken his own life.
The 27-year-old was said to be “devastated” in the aftermath of the raid, while Woolwich Crown Court heard he was accused of not doing enough to prevent the crime.
On Wednesday Mehmet and Holmes were found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to rob, having denied the charge.
Pedro was convicted of the same charge at an earlier trial, while a fourth man, Junior Kunu, 31, was cleared of the allegation.
Mr White had been put in a headlock and tied up as more than 70 high-value watches worth around £1.38 million were taken from the shop.
In the aftermath, Mr White met with the owners of the business as well as another businessman, Fred Sines.
Mr Sines was convicted earlier this year of trying to sell the £4.3 million gold toilet which had been stolen from Blenheim Palace in 2019.
It was suggested in court that the Sines family have ties to Irish crime family the Kinahan cartel, and the shop in Richmond was used as a “front” for organised crime.
One of the shop owners, Connor Thorton, was called to give evidence after Mr Kunu claimed as part of his defence that the heist had been staged.
Mr Thornton said Mr White had been questioned in the meeting after the robbery about why he let “shady” people into the store, as well as why he did not press the alarm.
But he insisted that Mr White had never been accused of being complicit in the heist.
The store mainly sold “high-end” Rolex models ranging anywhere from £3,000 to £60,000-£70,000 in value, the court heard.
Mr White, in a witness statement he gave to police before his death, said the two men who entered the store was “completely relaxed, and there was nothing that made me suspect anything”.
“Four watch trays were out on display. At this point in time I felt normal, a few moments later they stood up and started grabbing the watches”, he said.
“They started talking to each other and said ‘grab the watches’. They did so in a hurried way.”
He said one man grabbed him and “had pinned my hands across my chest”.
“I was feeling shocked at this point… he was the only guy who got physical with me, he then bound my wrists together.”
Mr White was put in a headlock and restrained with white cable ties as the luxury watches were loaded into a bag.
Pedro was not present for the robbery, but had been “closely involved in the planning and execution” including securing a stolen Audi as a getaway car.
In a statement, Mr White's mother, Amy Keane, said: "We are all absolutely devastated with the loss of our funny, thoughtful and kind son Oliver; our lives will never be the same and we feel this loss every minute of every day."
In court, his girlfriend Alana said the accusations that he was in on the raid “broke him” as it was “clear he loved the work” at 247 Kettles.
She said he had not wanted to talk about the incident.
Mehmet, Pedro, and Holmes are in custody awaiting sentencing on a date to be set.
