Celebrity antiques supplier blasts ‘vicious and evil’ masked robbers who raided his retailer and violently beat him with a hammer – as thugs are convicted of string of thefts

A celebrity jewellery and antiques dealer has branded two men who raided his store and violently attacked him with a hammer as ‘vicious and evil’.

Ian Towning, a regular face on Dickinson’s Real Deal and Posh Pawn, was brutally attacked – along with his security guard Mark Simmons, 60 – as the masked robbers cleared his shop of £120,000 worth of jewellery.

Robbers James Dixon, 42, of Pimlico, central London, and Thomas Loring, 41, of Mottingham, south-east London, have been convicted of a string of violent robberies and burglaries – along with the one on Mr Towning’s store – that they committed in and around London earlier this year.

Today, after the case against the pair concluded with Loring being found guilty of conspiracy to rob, the Flying Squad officers who snared the offenders, after putting them under surveillance, described Dixon as being like ‘a loaded gun walking around ready to go off at any time’.

Detective Constable Tom Lockwood added: ‘Dixon is just ready to go at any moment and unleash whatever violence he needs to.

‘He’s a violent robber who’s out to take money as quickly as possible and he doesn’t care about the consequences.’

Flying Squad officers told how Dixon and Loring had previously been convicted of similar offences together and had even been in the same prison before their latest crime wave.

Dixon had only been out of prison for seven months before he committed his first violent crime and did so while on licence, a term that had been extended by five years because he had punched a prison governor in the face when a parole hearing hadn’t gone his way.

Detective Chief Inspector Laura Hillier of the Flying Squad said: ‘We are going to talk to the judge ahead of sentencing about Dixon’s dangerousness so that when he is eventually released there will be enhanced probation and licensing aspects because it’s really important to show his past history of offending and the impact it’s had on his victims and the community as a whole.’

Det Con Lockwood said that Dixon had been offending since he was a teenager.

In the raid on Mr Towning’s store in London’s Chelsea, he and Mr Simmons were both hit on the head with a hammer and repeatedly attacked by Dixon, while Loring wielded a sledgehammer.

Describing the devastating effect the raid has had on his life, Mr Towning said: ‘It’s really screwed me up. I haven’t slept well since, and I’m just nervous all the time. And even in my own garden, I feel vulnerable.

‘I rarely dare walk down the street now, and if I do I don’t like anyone being behind me, and at a restaurant I sit with my back to the wall because I don’t trust anyone any more.

‘My teeth, hips, my arms, shoulders and my head, they all hurt and sometimes when I go into my shop, I don’t like to be in there anymore, and that’s not good for business and Mark feels the same,’ he added.

During the raid on March 26, the offenders, who had been previously convicted in 2013 of violently robbing a post office cash-in-transit driver of £24,000, used a reportedly stolen Black Peugeot 208GT car with false plates. The Flying Squad tracked this back to a known associate of Dixon, which Flying Squad Detective Inspector Kelly Schonhage said was a turning point in the investigation.

She added: ‘We relied on good, sound detective methods. We meticulously went through hours of CCTV and we looked into the history of the vehicle and that’s when we also knew this was an organised crime group (OCG) and that’s when we started to look into Dixon.’

When the Flying Squad arrested the Loring and Dixon, the pair had just made off with £8,745 in cash from a violent attack on a post office worker on the Old Kent Road, south-east London. Dixon then spent more than £2,500 cash at Lacoste and Hugo Boss on London’s Regent Street before, the detectives said, phoning up one of his three girlfriends to pick him up.

‘He’s an extraordinarily brazen criminal,’ said Det Con Lockwood. ‘One minute he’s smashing victims around, kicking them and barging them over and inflicting injuries. The next he’s spending the spoils of his crime without any remorse, even using telephones within those stores to phone up people he knows.’

Det Ch Insp Hillier said that the Flying Squad was hoping for severe sentences for Dixon and Loring because of the scope that the Flying Squad has in being able to investigate organised crime groups who are committing multiple crimes. 

‘We have a good reputation for working across conspiracies and criminals that show a propensity towards violence. 

‘We can work across different forces and areas and ensure the offences are brought together and so the sentencing powers can be increased and the victims can see justice being done for them.’

Following his arrest Dixon pleaded guilty to multiple offences connected to various robberies, an attempted robbery and burglaries.

Loring pleaded not guilty to robbery offences.

At his trial at Kingston upon Thames Crown Court, prosecuting barrister Rupert Kent described one of his roles as a ‘getaway driver.’ 

He added that after the Old Kent Road robbery, Loring ‘was seen to be driving at up to 60mph in a bus lane, before making a U-turn, travelling back up the Old Kent Road at speeds of up to 70mph’.

Mr Kent said: ‘Mr Loring is obviously an accomplished driver and adept at using a sledgehammer.’

He added: ‘These two men, between them, would do whatever to get cash and property.’

Mr Kent showed the jury CCTV footage of the robbery at Mr Towning’s store, which the Mail had revealed to readers just days after the offence happened.

He said that Dixon hit Mr Simmons on the back of the head with a hammer, a blow that knocked him to the floor and caused a cut that needed ten stitches. ‘While Mr Simmons was on the floor he was then attacked further.’

Mr Kent said that Mr Towning’s business partner Leslie Barrett saw him being attacked with a hammer. ‘As Mr Barrett watched, he feared Mr Towning – who was hit on his head, shoulder, elbow and back – would be killed.’

The raiders – who wore balaclavas and gloves – took a £35,000 sapphire and diamond necklace in their haul from the store stocked with £2million worth of goods.

It took a jury only 42 minutes to convict Loring of his role in conspiring to rob cash-in-transit drivers and shops between March and June this year.

At the news of the convictions, Mr Towning said: ‘I’m emotional and choked up I’m glad they’ve been put away because they are monsters.

‘They have no regard for anyone. They just wanted to rob and beat us up, they are totally disgusting.

‘Hopefully by the time they will be out they will be old men.’

Mr Simmons said: ‘I am glad there have been convictions because they could have killed Ian and me.’

Mr Towning added: ‘I actually think prison is too good for them because they have food and lodging and heating. He also said that he thinks it’s ‘ridiculous that criminals are being let out early.’

He also couldn’t see how these men had been rehabilitated in any way from their time in jail, adding: ‘They just seemed to have got out and started robbing and stealing again. What did they learn from their time in prison? Nothing.’

He said: ‘More police are needed on the beat. We keep hearing of the need for more bike lanes but more money needs spending on more police.’

He also railed against the current spike in crime against retailers. ‘This is forcing a lot of people out of business,’ he said. ‘People are sick of the violence shown towards small businesses.’

But he praised the police for their handling of the investigation. ‘The Flying Squad have done an outstanding job with us and kept us fully informed. We’ve always had 100 per cent from police in our business.’

However, the raid has come at a great amount of cost to his business.

‘We’ve put in extra security and have had to pay some people out of our own pockets for items that we later realised had been taken in the raid,’ he said. ‘It’s cost us a fortune.

‘Some of the pieces were really lovely – I don’t know where they have gone. They’ve probably been sold and melted down. But where is the money? These crooks will have made a lot of money.’

He added: ‘We worked hard for what we have and we didn’t start out with much. But we don’t go around beating people up and stealing from them.

‘The most violent one couldn’t have done this without the other one holding a sledgehammer or being a getaway driver. He’s just as bad as the one who hit me.’

The pair, who have been on remand since they were arrested, will be sentenced in the new year.

Commenting on the crime at Mr Towning’s store – as well as the various robberies and burglaries, which included terrifying two female staff at a Poundland store and assaulting Post Office workers – Det Ch Insp Hillier said: ‘These were ordinary people. 

‘They could be your loved ones going to work and have been subjected to terrifying and violent ordeals. The victims and the wider families are the ones left picking up the pieces around the psychological impact of these crimes. I think it’s a great day for investigative policing and even better for the victims and their families, and London in general, to get these two criminals back into prison.’