Aled Jones was robbed of his £17,000 Rolex after he threatened to wield a knife while walking with his son.
The Song of Praise star, 52, was walking around Chiswick in west London when he was confronted by a robber on Chiswick Road at around 5:30pm on Friday.
A source told The Sun that the attacker demanded Aled hand over his Rolex Daytona watch as he waved the weapon in her and her 18-year-old son Lucas’ faces.
The ex-singer boy allegedly ‘didn’t put up a fight’ and gave the robber the watch so he or his son wouldn’t be harmed by the thug.
After the ordeal, Aled reported the incident to the police, who have since charged a 16-year-old with robbery.
He is the latest victim of a watch crime that has hit the capital in the past 18 months, including other celebrities, such as boxer Aamir Khan whose £72,000 watch was robbed last year.
Aled Jones has been robbed of his £17,000 Rolex after threatening to wield a knife while walking with his son
The Guns of Praise star, 52, was walking around Chiswick, west London, with son Lucas, 18, when they were confronted by the robber on Chiswick Road at around 5.30pm on Friday (the father and son were previously pictured together in Notting Hill). year)
Aled’s watch, a Rolex Daytona, is worth around £17,000
A source told the paper that Aled was ‘totally shocked’ and ‘shaking’ after the ordeal which ‘all happened so quickly’ when the attacker ‘came out of nowhere’.
They added that the 52-year-old was however ‘relieved’ that she and her son were not injured and were able to ‘return home safely’.
The source said: ‘You could replace a watch and everyone realized it could be worse.’
Aled’s wife of 22 years, Claire, and their daughter Emilia, 21, an actress who starred in the 2021 Academy Award-winning film CODA, were not with the pair during the robbery.
The Metropolitan Police told The Sun: ‘A 16-year-old man has been charged with one count of robbery. The charges follow a robbery in Chiswick Road on Friday 7 July
‘At approximately 17.40 hours a 52-year-old man reported that he was approached by a male who threatened him with a knife and demanded his watch.’
According to the newspaper, the 16-year-old is due to face trial next month.
Aled has a love for watches and in 2016 spoke fondly about his then favourite, Bremont.
He said: ‘It’s a codebreaker watch that has pieces of the enigma in it. It incorporates wood from six huts in Bletchley Park where Alan Turing helped to shorten the Second World War.
‘So it’s a huge piece of history and it could beat a Rolex or a Cartier any day.’
Former boxer Aamir Khan, pictured here with his wife Faryal Makhdoom, was robbed of his diamond-encrusted watch in East London last year.
Khan was robbed of a Franck Muller Vanguard chronograph watch worth between £60,000 and £70,000.
Aled isn’t the only celebrity to be targeted by watch thieves. Former professional boxer Khan’s diamond-encrusted watch – worth around £72,000 – was stolen in east London in a separate incident in April last year.
The 2004 Olympic silver medallist, 36, was targeted as he and his wife Farial Makhdoom, 31, left the Sahara Grill restaurant in Leyton, east London, on April 18 last year.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how gunman Dante Campbell, 20, forced Khan to hand over his bespoke rose gold, diamond-encrusted Franck Muller watch worth between £60,000 and £70,000 which had been gifted to him after a boxing match.
Gunman Campbell, from Hornsey, north London, and driver Ahmed Bana, 25, from Tottenham, admitted robbery and conspiracy to possess an imitation firearm during a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court. They will be sentenced on the scheduled date.
The Bolton-born boxer previously told the court the robber pointed a gun at his face and said: ‘Take off the watch.’
In a separate incident, F1 driver Lando Norris’ £140,000 Richard Mille watch – one of only 500 – was stolen after the Euro 2020 final at Wembley. Another ripped it off his wrist while walking to his sports car on 11 July 2021.
The Metropolitan Police has repeatedly warned wealthy Londoners not to display expensive watches worth around £200,000 in public to avoid being mugged.
Experts at the time said gangs of ‘Rolex Rippers’ had been holding up celebrities’ social media profiles in search of rare and expensive watches before they forcibly took them over, warning people to be wary of flaunting their pricey timepieces online.
Alex Bomberg, chairman of security firm Intelligent Protection International, warned The Times earlier this year that the trend had become so bad that in some parts of the capital ‘you can’t go to dinner’.
He said: ‘They can be stolen to order or easily moved through the black market – perhaps for a tenth or a fifth of their value,’
‘If they are stolen to order it raises a number of problems; There may be street cred for criminals who take a watch off the hands of a famous person and sell it to a collector who is happy to buy a stolen timepiece.’
The ex-singer reportedly ‘didn’t fight back’ and gave the watch to the robber so she or her son wouldn’t be harmed by the thug.
Earlier in the day: The pair were pictured at the 2015 premiere of Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie
Happy: Jones made his name in 1985 with songs from the film The Snowman and went on to make 16 albums before his voice broke at the age of 16.
Aled’s robbery was targeted in the same area by a ‘Rolex Ripper Gang’ who targeted high-end watches when they operated 18 months earlier.
The robbery happened just days after she was seen shopping with her son Lucas in Notting Hill.
Jones was casual in trainers, jeans and a hoodie while her son wore a more formal jumper with trousers and loafers. The teenager shot and now towers over his 5ft 10in tall father.
Aled, who hails from Bangor, North Wales, made his name in 1985 with the song Walking in the Air from the film The Snowman and went on to make 16 albums before his voice broke at the age of 16. He has sold six million records and performed in front of Queen. , Charles and Diana and the Pope.
He was made an MBE 10 years ago for services to music and broadcasting and to charity.
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