BBC Breakfast presenter Ben Thompson has said he no longer feels safe in London after being attacked and having his £7,000 Rolex watch stolen. The incident occurred in Mayfair as he and his friend Roja Dove were leaving a restaurant.
A group of six men grabbed Thompson and forcibly removed his watch, a specially engraved 40th birthday present from his partner, Andy Roche. The theft left a scar on his wrist. Dove, 69, was thrown to the ground and had his £150,000 diamond-encrusted Patek Philippe watch stolen.
In a victim impact statement read out as two of the gang were jailed, Thompson said: 'I am nervous and jumpy when I hear a jogger or cyclist approaching behind me.' He added that he feels 'very unsafe in London, a city I have loved my entire life.'
Hocine Boulanouar, 26, was sentenced to four years and three months, and Danis Tom-Deter, 36, received two years and nine months at the Old Bailey. CCTV showed the pair among the group that targeted Thompson and Dove.
The case follows reports that Hollywood star Tom Cruise left his Knightsbridge flat after an armed raid on a Rolex store below his building, citing safety concerns. A source told the Daily Mail that Cruise felt the area had 'declined in the past year or two.'
