Two men are on the run after they were allegedly involved in a £1.38 million robbery that led a jewellery store manager to kill himself, a court has heard. Junior Kunu, 30, and Mannix Pedro, 37, are charged with conspiring with others to commit the robbery after watches worth more than £1.38 million were stolen from a south-west London jewellery store last year.
Office manager Oliver White, 27, took his own life the next day "as a direct result" of the robbery, jurors were told. Kunu and Pedro are on trial at Woolwich Crown Court but at least two others said to have been involved are at large - Michael Ashman and Kyle Bowrage.
Prosecutor Edward Brown KC said Bowrage and Ashman fled abroad soon after May 25 and have not yet been arrested. A reporting restriction forbidding the publication of Ashman and Bowrage's names was lifted on Thursday. More than 70 "high-value" watches were taken from the 247 Kettles shop in Richmond on May 25, the court heard.
Mr White's witness statement, given to police after the alleged attack, was read to the court. He said that on May 25 two men entered Kettles and "their body language was completely relaxed and there was nothing that made me suspect anything". The two men are allegedly Bowrage and Kunu.
"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. "They started talking to each other and said 'grab the watches'. They did so in a hurried way.". He said one man, believed to be Bowrage, grabbed him and "had pinned my hands across my chest".
