Lando Norris was put in a headlock and robbed of his £144,000 watch after the Euro 2020 final at Wembley, a court heard on Monday.
The Formula 1 star, then 21, was accosted in a car park outside the stadium by two men, with one gripping him in a headlock and the other ripping the Richard Mille 67-02 designer watch – one of only five in the world – from his wrist.
Liam Williams, 25, of Bootle in Merseyside, is accused of being the man snatching the watch, with Harrow Crown Court hearing that Williams allegedly left DNA on the McLaren driver’s wrist.
Williams has pleaded not guilty to one count of robbing Norris outside Wembley on 11 July 2021, when England lost on penalties to Italy in the final of the European Championships. He appeared in court on Monday wearing a navy blue t-shirt and grey ripped jeans.
In his statement given on July 12, Norris told police he parked his orange £165,000 McLaren GT sportscar in a VIP ‘Yellow’ car park outside the stadium travelling to the game with a friend called Max.
After the match, Norris returned to his car at around midnight milling around his car, chatting to members of the public and posing for a photo with a fan.
Norris then went on to describe the incident: “After attending Wembley Stadium, I was speaking to members of the public and noticed Suspect One and Suspect Two walk around my car, while I was taking to other people. I noticed them looking at my car and myself and the first one was keeping his head down and had his right hand near his pocket.
“Suspect One slowly approached me and asked me: ‘Is this your car?’ I don’t recall exactly what happened, but Suspect One then went behind me and put his right arm around my neck and his left arm under my back.
“Suspect One pulled me into him and pulled me back on my neck, meaning I was facing the sky and I couldn’t see him at this point.
“Suspect One told Suspect Two to grab my watch. He shouted multiple times: ‘Grab the watch’. Suspect One was holding me the whole time and Suspect Two was trying to grab the watch. He struggled for a while and then used force to pull the watch off, leaving scratches on my arm.
“When Suspect One had his arm around my neck Suspect Two managed to get the watch off my left wrist and then ran through the pedestrian walkway to Rutherford Way. From there I do not know where they went. My view was blocked.
“Suspect One was pretty close as he put his arm around my neck. Suspect Two was ten feet away and I saw Suspect One for around ten seconds and the interaction was around thirty seconds, not very long.”
In a second interview on 12 February, 2022, Norris confirmed he did not know Williams and had no contact with strangers in the stadium due to Covid.
Two swabs were taken from Norris’ left wrist, which revealed it was 37 million times more likely Williams’ DNA was present than an unknown present.
Williams’ mobile phone was also analysed, revealing a journey from Liverpool to Wembley on 11 July, where he remained until the early hours of 12 July before returning to Liverpool on 13 July.
Williams was arrested in Liverpool on 18 July on suspicion of robbery and attended a voluntary interview that day. He replied “no comment” to all questions, responses he repeated in interviews on 19 July and 12 December, 2021.
On 19 July, Norris was unable to pick out Williams as one of the robbers in an identity line-up.
The jurors were shown photos of the stolen watch, which was the only one in the world with a blue strap made to measure for the driver’s wrist and has never been made available for sale.
Prosecutor Tyrone Silcott told the jury: "Some of you interested in football may recall that day, the day England lost the Euro final at Wembley.
"Mr Norris attended that game and when returning to his car after the match he was robbed of his watch by two men. The Crown’s case is that this defendant is one of those two men. We all agree, both the Crown and defence that Mr Norris was robbed.
"We don’t have to decide if there was a robbery and there is no dispute two men stole his watch. The case boils down to one question. Are you sure the defendant was one of those two robbers? If you are you will convict him.”
He added: “Mr Norris was able to describe one as a white male of average build, short hair aged mid-twenties to thirties that he thought had a London accent.
"This defendant does not have a London accent. He also described the first man as wearing a black hooded jacket and black trousers.
“The second male was wearing grey clothing and he had a hood up and Mr Norris did not see this male, he was standing back and does not believe he would recognise this male again."
CCTV recorded the incident, with Mr Silcott adding: "You can see someone going behind the figure and pull them back, but there is no way you can make an identification from the CCTV."
Norris described having trouble sleeping after the incident, which took a place a week before the 2021 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The final was marred by crowd trouble, with 5,000 fans breaking into the stadium without tickets.
The trial continues.
