Rolex robbers make timely thefts

Alfredo Marcantonio left Soho in his £50,000 Aston Martin Volante after a typical day of meetings. He paid little attention to the silver TVR that followed him out of the car park in Brewer Street.

There was nothing about the vehicle or the three men inside to suggest they were anything out of the ordinary.

Mr Marcantonio, a 54-year-old advertising executive behind the classic Hamlet and Heineken campaigns, didn't realise he had already been singled out.

Half an hour or so later, at 8pm, he pulled up at his Georgian home on the outskirts of Twickenham, preparing to spend a relaxing family evening. The knock at the door didn't come until roughly two hours later.

"It was the most terrifying few minutes of our lives," Mr Marcantonio said. "We heard a knock at the door at about 10pm and I saw a smartly dressed, handsome black guy through the spy hole. He said something about being a friend of our nextdoor neighbour.

"He seemed alright so I opened the door a little to see what he wanted, then he suddenly barged it wide open and pushed me aside.

"He grabbed my wife, Vivien, and pushed her against the wall, bashing her head. He shouted at her to 'shut up or you'll see what I'll do to you, bitch'.

"Two more men rushed in, both wearing balaclavas and hooded jackets so all you could see were their eyes. One of them had a gun and he pointed it at me. I was enraged about what they were doing to us. I just flew at the one with the gun without thinking about what I was doing. He hit me very hard in the face with the butt of the gun, breaking my nose."

At this point Mr Marcantonio collapsed on the floor covered in blood, and his Cartier watch worth £10,000 was torn from his wrist as the handgun was held to his head.

His 53- year- old wife was attacked again. She lay hunched against the wall, bleeding from her mouth, one of her teeth knocked out by a blow from the attackers.

The noise of the struggle and their screams alerted their 24-year-old son, Leo, who lives in the basement flat. He ran up and knocked on the front door, shouting to be let in.

Leo said: "The robbers must have had someone else outside, because they opened the door very calmly. They seemed surprised when they saw me and started to panic. I started shouting at them and two of them ran off. I remember looking down and it was just mayhem inside.

"Mum and dad were covered in blood and crying, and there was this strange guy standing in the passageway with a gun in his hand. He seemed to think for a moment about what to do but one of the others shouted 'leave it'."

His father said: "This really shook us up and left us bruised and battered, but we were very lucky. God knows what these people are capable of.

"They are cold, ruthless, very violent professionals. There are so many people in my industry who drive into Soho in nice cars, wear nice watches and are obvious targets for these gangs.

"I want to warn them to be vigilant as they leave the area to drive home. I don't want anyone to go through what we went through."

Police are scouring CCTV footage taken in the area on 16 January, the night of the attack, to trace the silver TVR or the three attackers, who were black men aged between 25 and 30.

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