A teenager who threatened to behead TV presenter Aled Jones and traumatised a Bridgerton actress after trying to steal her phone, has pleaded guilty to another attempted robbery with a machete.
Zacariah Boulares, now 19, was armed with the huge blade when he tried to steal a Rolex watch from Neil Tallantire.
The incident happened in Bayswater, west London, in August 2023, just six weeks after robbing Songs of Praise star Aled Jones.
The Welsh singer had been walking along Chiswick High Road in west London when Boulares, then 16, pointed a machete at his face and stole his £17,000 Daytona Rolex watch. He also threatened to cut his head off.
Boulares struck again in February last year when he was caught red-handed trying to steal Bridgerton actress Genevieve Chenneour’s mobile phone as she bought a drink at a Kensington café.
The teenager sidled up behind the actress at Joe and the Juice in Kensington and tried to quietly swipe the handset. But he was quickly confronted by Ms Chenneour who heard the iPhone 14 being snatched, and then wrestled to the ground by her ex-partner Carlo Kurcishi.
Ms Chenneour previously told Isleworth crown court that the incident had led to her considering leaving London.
She said the phone theft felt like “a big set back in my journey to improve my mental health”.
Judge Martin Edmunds KC, the Recorder of Kensington and Chelsea, sentenced Boulares to 22 months in prison in July 2025 for a string of offences, including the attempt to steal Ms Chenneour’s phone.
At the sentencing, Judge Edmunds KC said Boulares had targeted wealthy areas for “rich pickings”, in a “systematic pattern of stealing from people as they are enjoying a meal or refreshment at a restaurant”.
“You seem to be plagued by an attitude that if people can afford nice things, then you can take them”, he said.
“It’s clear you are completely willing to use violence when challenged, and it’s a matter of the deepest regret that individuals have been left feeling they don’t want to come to London or they should leave London.”
The court heard that Boulares has already accumulated 12 convictions for 28 offences, including violence, threatening behaviour, weapon possession and theft.
On Thursday, Boulares appeared at Southwark Crown Court to plead guilty to the attempted robbery of Mr Tallantire and possession of a machete.
The teenager, from Feltham, was warned to expect a "substantial" prison term and will be remanded in custody until his sentencing in June.
