smash-and-grab robberies, USA News: Three men have been jailed after a series of smash-and-grab robberies in London’s West End, police said. The gang, which targeted high-end fashion stores, carried out five robberies between November 2025 and January 2026. The brazen criminals used stolen vehicles to smash the store fronts before storming the premises, the Metropolitan Police said. The gang targeted designer stores in affluent shopping destinations, including YSL on Bond Street, Bottega Veneta and Loro Piana on Sloane Street, and End on Broadwick Street.
Max Tyson, 26, and Ryan Brough, 34, were sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday to three years and four months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit burglary. Harry Johnson, 25, was jailed for one year and 10 months after pleading guilty to handling stolen goods. Two other men, Sonny Stringer, 29, and Olivier Ndayizeie, 36, received suspended prison sentences at the same court after respectively pleading guilty to handling stolen goods and encouraging or assisting an offence.
The damage to shops and value of stolen items came to more than £1 million, the police said. On December 16, 2025, the crew took more than 105 items, including handbags, clothing, boots, and a coat worth more than £30,000, with the total value of products stolen coming to nearly £385,000. The police investigation later found that the gang often sold their ill-gotten goods for much lower than market price. Tyson, in one instance, received just £1,800 for items worth more than £30,000. The Met’s Flying Squad officers found through CCTV, forensics, and Automatic Number Plate Recognition footage that the group used several stolen vehicles to carry out the robberies.
One vehicle used in a ramming was insured to Ndayizeie, of Freegrove Road in Islington, and DNA from the scene was identified as that of Max Tyson. The investigation also led officers to a shop in Cornwall where Tyson, of St Peters Street in Islington, had travelled to avoid detection. But officers later found receipts in his name showing stolen items had been re-sold for thousands of pounds to the shop. Tyson and Brough, of Courtney Road, Islington, were arrested on January 23, 2026, the same day as the last robbery at an YSL shop in Bond Street. Stringer, of Essex Road, Islington, was arrested on January 26, while Johnson, of Tilney Gardens, and Ndayizeie were arrested on February 10.
Detective Constable Will Wigzell, from the Met’s Flying Squad, stated that these robberies have a lasting impact on businesses, their staff, and the wider community, affecting livelihoods and causing significant emotional and financial harm through the threats, violence, and intimidation involved. He noted that the organised crime group carefully planned their offences using stolen vehicles and mopeds in an attempt to evade detection, but were identified and brought to justice through the determination and expertise of Flying Squad detectives.
