Thief who targeted Jenson Button's wife is illegal migrant

Telegraph

2 days ago

An Algerian migrant who stole a suitcase containing £250,000 of jewellery and luxury items from Jenson Button's wife, Brittny, was in the UK illegally at the time and is due to be deported after serving his sentence.
Mourad Aid, 41, snatched the Goyard carry-on on Feb 13 outside St Pancras International station in London, as the Formula One champion and his wife returned from a trip to Paris.
The Algerian national was sentenced on Friday at Inner London Crown Court to two years and four months in prison for two separate offences, including the high-profile theft. He will be deported after serving his sentence, British Transport Police said.
Aid took the Goyard carry-on bag while Jenson Button had his back turned, helping a chauffeur with luggage. At the time, Aid was also in breach of bail conditions that prohibited him from entering Kings Cross.
The suitcase contained jewellery from the couple's wedding, family heirlooms intended for their daughter, and two Hermès Kelly handbags worth around £70,000, none of which have been recovered.
Aid pleaded guilty to the theft on Feb 19 at Westminster magistrates' court. He also admitted to handling stolen goods relating to a separate incident involving a silver Rimowa suitcase stolen on Nov 24 2024.
The Buttons have since said they have no plans to return to the UK following the ordeal.
The case was first reported by MailOnline.
Kate Blackwell KC said during sentencing: 'You are 41 years of age. A man who came to the UK in 2019 on a six-month tourist visa and when it expired you stayed here illegally. You have never applied for asylum, but you never applied for benefit,' she said, according to MailOnline.
'As far as the court is aware you have never held lawful employment.
'Whilst passing the shortest sentence I can that is commensurate with my public duty, the sentence will result in your automatic deportation once it is served.
'I give you full credit for pleading guilty at the first opportunity.
'You have no convictions in the UK so I treat you as a man of previous good character.'
Richard Sedgwick, prosecuting, said Aid had told a 'succession of lies' after being arrested by plain-clothes officers in the Hatton Gardens district four days after the theft.
Aid claimed during police interviews to have been attending a funeral in Algeria on the day of the theft. He later admitted to stealing the Goyard suitcase, but claimed to have gifted it to charity.
Remarking on his initial denials, the judge said: 'You proceeded to continue these lies, continuing to attempt to deflect responsibility onto anyone else but yourself.'
'Feels very dark and scary'
In a victim impact statement, reported by MailOnline, Ms Jenson said the ordeal had left her and her husband with 'no interest' in returning to the UK.
She said: 'When we first started dating we would go to London, and it was such like a nice place to be, and now it just feels very kind of dark and scary.
'My husband and I we really have no interest going back to the UK and it's a shame, because, you know, we will have to go back for family and work.
'It just feels so unsafe and doesn't feel how it once was, and it's just unfortunate because that's where my children's grandmother and aunts live.'
A Home Office spokesman said: 'Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free to roam Britain's streets, including removing them from the UK at the earliest possible opportunity.
'Since the election we've removed 4,436 foreign criminals, a 14 per cent increase on the same period 12 months prior.'