Three violent robbers have been jailed after targeting the brothers of Premier League footballers Trent Alexander-Arnold and Marcus Rashford.
Talleko Lemonious, 27, Tariq Dervan, 22, and Romario Harmer, 21, denied involvement but were convicted of the robbery of five men, including Tyler Alexander-Arnold and Dane Rashford at Little Rock café in Moss Side. Jurors at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court also found all three guilty of possessing a double barrelled sawn-off shotgun, machete and baseball bat during the terrifying attack.
Mr Alexander-Arnold, brother of Liverpool star Trent, and Mr Rashford were attacked and robbed of a £70,000 car, wallets and watches while eating breakfast with friends on the morning of January 12 2019. The men had met with friends at around 10am ahead of driving to Brighton to watch Liverpool play a Premier League game.
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Ten to fifteen minutes after sitting down to eat, the three men, wearing dark clothing and balaclavas burst in armed with a sawn-off shotgun, machete and baseball bat. Stephen McNally, prosecuting, said: "They used violence to steal watches, a set of keys and wallets of the five victims. These were high profile victims and had been deliberately targeted."
Mr Alexander-Arnold heard one of the men shout "get your watch off" and turned to look to find a man wearing a mask around two to three feet away from him. He then swung the baseball bat, hitting his head and knocking him to the floor. The bat was swung with such force that it broke and half of it was left in the café.
He said he saw the two other men, one armed with a machete and one had a gun. They continued to shout about handing over the watches, so Mr Alexander-Arnold pulled up his sleeves to show he was not wearing a watch, instead emptying his pockets of his wallet and keys to his £70,000 Range Rover. Mr Rashford was also struck to the head and knocked to the ground by a man he described as wearing a "ski mask". He said he remembered having a sawn-off shotgun pointed at his face before handing over his £22,000 Rolex Daytona.
The Manchester Evening News reported both men suffered wounds to their heads and needed stitches after the attack. One of the friends was hit to the head and staggered backwards before being confronted with a man pointing a shotgun at him. He said he "believed he was going to be shot" and immediately took off his Rolex watch worth between £3,000 and £4,000.
Another friend was also struck and had his Gucci wallet taken from him, and the fifth man had his £1,000 Hugo Boss watch stolen. The robbers fled using the Range Rover and a BMW they had arrived in, but were caught an hour later by police who had accessed the tracker in the car.
They were arrested at an address on Boland Drive, wherein police found the stolen watches, wallets and ski masks. They also recovered the sawn-off shotgun hidden in a nearby bush, which contained Harmer’s DNA. The court heard of a separate unrelated incident involving Lemonious, who pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition.
Ms McNally said that in September 2021 officers were called following reports of gunshots in Withington. They found a VW Golf with a bullet lodged in the driver’s door. Enquiries later revealed that Lemonious was involved in the shooting. He was said to have 28 previous convictions for 52 offences including for robbery, violence and drugs.
Dervan has seven convictions on his record for offences including assault, possession with intent to supply drugs and robbery. And Harmer had four offences on his criminal record.
Mitigating for Lemonious, Wayne Jackson said: "He accepts now his involvement in the robbery. He says it was very difficult growing up in Moss Side, to break away from the environment he grew up in. He says gangs were very much part of day-to-day life. His life was like a revolving door - he should have turned left but went right."
Mr Jackson said Lemonious had an interest in music production and had attempted to move away from his background, but "fell in with the wrong people". Chudi Grant, for Dervan, said his client was a youth at the time and that he had experienced difficulties at home. He said he plans to rebuild his life upon his release. And for Harmer, Julian Goode said that his client was 17 at the time of the offences and that no further offences have been committed.
Passing sentence, the judge, Recorder Peter Horgan, said: "This was clearly a brazen and planned robbery in broad daylight. You were all armed, you were all disguised wearing dark clothing and masks, and the two victims were brothers of well known professional footballers. You clearly targeted them for their expensive watches."
Lemonious, of Shady Lane, Wythenshawe, was jailed for 18 years with an extended licence period of two years. Dervan, of no fixed abode, was jailed for five and a half years with an extended licence period of two years. Harmer, of Pemberton Street, Old Trafford, was jailed for four years.
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