A former karate champion who assisted in snatching a £70,000 Patek Philippe watch from a Canadian businessman in Mayfair has been sentenced to prison after attempting to flee the country. Zine Telli, 34, received a three-year sentence for his involvement in the theft of Axel Schwan's luxury timepiece in London on June 30, 2024.
Mr. Schwan, the regional president of the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons, was holidaying in the United Kingdom with his wife when the crime occurred. CCTV footage captures the couple walking along New Bond Street before a thief wearing a cap approaches from behind and removes the Patek Philippe from Mr. Schwan's wrist. The businessman gives chase, nearly stumbling, as the culprit escapes into a nearby shop.
Algerian national Ahmed Djidi, 26, was sentenced to 22 months in November for his part in the audacious daylight theft, but Telli had been 'either abroad or evading justice,' the court heard this week. The pair communicated via AirPods as part of a gang targeting Mr. Schwan, with Telli seen loitering on the opposite side of the street during the theft.
At the time of the crime, Telli was already under investigation for a separate theft of a MacBook Pro from a student in April 2023. He was eventually arrested in September 2024 by police patrol officers but missed a pre-trial hearing in May 2025 because he was abroad and later re-entered the UK undetected. He was finally arrested at Gatwick Airport in March 2026 and missed another pre-trial hearing after being granted bail.
This week, Telli was sentenced at the Old Bailey to 39 months in prison for two counts of theft. He is currently held at HMP Wandsworth in south London.
Prosecutor Gabriel Barnes stated: 'Telli was either abroad and effectively evading justice in respect of this case, or he was in the country but had no intention of coming before the court.' Regarding the MacBook theft, he added: 'On April 23, 2023, the first complainant was having dinner with friends outside Fireaway Pizza restaurant on Gloucester Road, west London. She had a bag containing a MacBook Pro laptop on a chair next to her, and on finishing the meal she realised the bag was missing. In CCTV footage the defendant can be seen identifying the bag, loitering, then re-passing with his associate and taking it.'
Telli was later identified by CCTV. The laptop, valued at £2,618, belonged to a student preparing for her university finals, and she lost all the work she had been preparing for her last assignment. Telli claimed in a letter read out in court that he 'forgot' to attend a pre-trial hearing in March because he was 'on holiday.' He admitted the offence on March 16 this year, just weeks before his trial was due to begin.
Of the second theft, Mr. Barnes continued: 'On June 30, 2024, the complainant Mr. Schwan was on holiday in the UK. He was walking down New Bond Street with his wife when a male approached him from behind and ripped his watch from his left wrist, worth just under £70,000. There were three other males involved, one of which was Mr. Telli.' He added: 'The thieves made off on Lime bikes. The defendant can be seen loitering on the telephone as the theft takes place on the far side of the road.'
When Telli was arrested three months later, he was found in possession of £3,000 and a 'very small' quantity of cocaine. Mr. Schwan was left 'profoundly emotionally impacted' and 'feeling vulnerable and anxious' after the crime, with his holiday 'completely soured.' The stolen watch was a Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time, a discontinued model that would cost around £65,000 to replace. Mr. Schwan received £28,000 from his insurance company.
Jeffrey Israel, defending Telli, said: 'It's quite clear that Telli's role was an accessory rather than a principal; it can be inferred that his role was to communicate with the other men. He is a UK citizen who came to this country in 2016, a karate champion. He sustained life-changing injuries in a motorcycle accident in 2021, which led him into a spiral of drug and alcohol use.'
Sentencing, Judge Usha Karu said: 'On March 18, 2026, you were arrested and produced at Southwark Crown Court on March 26. You had absolutely no intention of presenting yourself at Southwark Crown Court and had it not been for your arrest at Gatwick I have no doubt that you would have left the country. You told police officers you were intoxicated at the time you stole the laptop and you got no financial gain from it, I don't accept that. You had met others in an Algerian cafe, and you said this was part of a coordinated plan whereby you and others would walk around Mayfair and identify targets with expensive watches. You are an educated man who has had in fact an illustrious career in karate, a 2018 and 2019 UK champion. You said you had been gambling the last three years and involved with drugs and alcohol. You have several other investigations going on relating to other robberies committed in 2025, I do not know what stage these are at.'
Ms. Karu sentenced Telli to 39 months in prison for two counts of theft, imposing no separate penalty for the cocaine but ordering its forfeiture and destruction. He was also banned from entering the W1 area of London except for court appearances and legal meetings and banned from associating with certain named criminals.
