The three men who attacked and robbed the brothers of top Premier League footballers Marcus Rashford and Trent Alexander-Arnold have been pictured.
The Manchester United and Liverpool star's siblings were robbed at gunpoint by Romario Harmer, Talleko Lemonious and Tariq Dervan in Moss Side, Manchester in January 2019. Dane Rashford, brother of Marcus, and Tyler Alexander-Arnold, brother of Trent, were targeted by the armed trio with a sawn-off shotgun, machete and a baseball bat, reports the Manchester Evening News.
The men were robbed of a £70,000 Range Rover, wallets and designer watches after being hit in the head while having breakfast at the Little Rock café.
Lemonious, 27, Dervan, 22, and Harmer, 21 fled the scene in the stolen Range Rover as well as a BMW but police were able to locate the stolen vehicle that was fitted with a tracker, to a house in Fallowfield an hour later.
The trio were arrested and the stolen items recovered with the men denying involvement before being convicted of the robbery of five men. Minshull Street Crown Court found the men guilty of possessing the weapons used in the robbery.
They were jailed on April 12 with Lemonious jailed for 18 years with an extended licence period of two years, while Dervan was jailed for five and a half years with an extended licence period of two years. Harmer was jailed for four years.
Prosecutor Stephen McNally said the brothers of the footballer's had met with friends at the cafe for breakfast before attending Brighton vs Liverpool. They parked on a nearby street and arrived at the Caribbean takeaway at around 10am. The three men convicted arrived around ten to fifteen minutes later wearing dark clothing and balaclavas.
“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,” McNally said.
Mr Alexander-Arnold heard one of the men shout 'get your watch off' before swinging the baseball towards his head, hitting him and knocking him to the floor. He said the two other men were armed with a machete and one had a gun. The trio continued to demand the handing over of watches before he emptied his pockets of his wallet and keys to the Range Rover.
Mr Rashford also claims he was struck to the head and knocked to the ground by a man wearing a 'ski mask'. He recalled having the shotgun 'pointed at his face' before he relinquished his £22,000 Rolex Daytona watch. One of the brother's friends was also hit and staggered before being confronted at gunpoint as 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.
Police, upon searching a home in Boland Drive, found the stolen watches and wallets, while also recovering a ski mask and the sawn-off shotgun hidden in a nearby bush, which contained Harmer's DNA.
Lemonious was said to have 28 previous convictions for 52 offences including for robbery, violence and drugs, while Dervan has seven convictions for offences including assault, possession with intent to supply drugs and robbery. Harmer also 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.”
Chudi Grant, for Dervan, said his client was a youth at the time and that he had experienced difficulties at home. For Harmer, Julian Goode said that he was 17 at the time of the offences and that no further offences have been committed.
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.”
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