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A man who stole a suitcase containing £250,000 worth of jewellery and designer handbags from Brittny Button, the wife of 2009 World Champion and Sky F1 pundit Jenson Button, has been jailed.
Mourad Aid, 41, snatched Mrs Button’s bag outside St Pancras station in London in February after the couple had returned from a city break in Paris.
Thief jailed after robbery of Jenson Button’s wife
Aid, pounced when Mr Button, had his back turned while helping a chauffeur load their belongings into a car.
CCTV footage showed Aid taking a Goyard case containing jewellery from her wedding and heirlooms she had intended to pass to her daughter, as well as two Kelly handbags worth around £70,000, on February 13.
Aid was arrested by plain-clothed police officers on February 17, four days after stealing the case, and pleaded guilty to theft at Westminster Magistrates’ Court two days later on February 19.
None of Mrs Button’s goods, totalling £383,037.92, have been recovered.
The Algerian also pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods following the theft of a Rimowa cabin suitcase belonging to James Humphrey Evans in November last year.
Aid has been sentenced to two years and four months in prison for the two offences.
It emerged during the case that Aid was in the United Kingdom illegally, having stayed in Britain after his six-month tourist visa had expired in 2019.
He had also been violating his bail conditions, which barred him from King’s Cross Station, on the day of his robbery of Mr and Mrs Button.
Aid will be deported back to Algeria when his sentence has been completed.
In a victim statement on Friday, Mrs Button said that the incident had “stripped away her sense of safety, security and peace of mind.”
She also posted a meme via Instagram’s story function, which allows images and video clips to be posted for a 24-hour period, following the sentencing on Friday.
The meme read: “Being nice is overrated. Just find a good lawyer and choose violence.”
As previously reported by PlanetF1.com last month, Mrs Button revealed that she and her husband, who reside in the United States, have “no interest” in returning to the UK after the robbery.
She told the Mail: “I was kind of shocked. How like unsecure everything felt [in London], just so many people, so chaotic.
“I thought: ‘Should I have brought my carry-on back here with me?’ Because Jenson can be a little bit like not super careful, too trusting and a little too relaxed.
“He had his back on mine and a guy just came and swooped it. We didn’t even see him do it, so they were probably watching us.
“We had no idea until Jenson went: ‘Wait where is your bag?’ And he raced off trying to find it, but he [the thief] was already gone.
“I just started crying, I was a little upset with Jenson because I felt like he kind of dropped the ball a little but its not his fault someone was watching us.
“He also did get his bag stolen a few months ago in a car park in London.
“It definitely was shocking that I just didn’t think.
“I’m normally pretty cautious when I’m out in public and travelling, but I just didn’t think that there were gangs literally just waiting for people and watching.
“I’ve heard countless stories. When we first started dating we would go to London, and it was such like a nice place to be, and now it just feels very kind of dark and scary.
“My husband and I, we really have no interest going back to the UK and it’s a shame, because we will have to go back for family and work.
“It just feels so unsafe and doesn’t feel how it once was and it’s just unfortunate because that’s where my children’s grandmother and aunts live.”
- Oliver Harden
