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Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Prolific thief who targeted Jenson Button's wife and stole her suitcase containing £250,000 of lavish goods is jailed
A prolific thief who stole a suitcase carrying £250,000 worth of luxury items and jewellery from Jenson Button's wife Brittny has been jailed for two years and four months. Mourad Aid, 41, nabbed Mrs Button's Goyard carry-on filled with antique jewellery from the birth of her child and her wedding, as well as two Kelly bags worth around £70,000 on February 13, 2025. The criminal swooped and dashed away with the suitcase while the Formula One driver had his backed turned as he helped a chauffeur load a vehicle outside St Pancras International Station in London. The 41-year-old had pleaded guilty to theft at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 19 February, 2025, five days after the initial incident. Today he was sentenced to X at Inner London Crown Court after stealing Brittny's valuable items outside of the busy London station. It comes shortly the crime was exclusively revealed by MailOnline as Button's American wife said she nor her husband had any interest in returning to the UK following the ordeal. Last February, as Button briefly turned his back to Brittny's carry-on Aid ran off into the busy station with sentimental items the model hoped to one day pass on to her daughter. 'He had his back on mine, and a guy just came and swooped it. We didn't even see him do it,' she added: 'So they were probably watching us. 'We had no idea until Jenson went, "Wait where is your bag" and he raced off trying to find it, but he [the thief] was already gone.' The interior designer burst into tears following the 'traumatising' ordeal which cast a dark cloud over their getaway, as quickly heading to the airport to return to their home in California. 'I just started crying, I was a little upset with Jensen because I felt like he kind of dropped the ball a little but its not his fault someone was watching us,' she said: 'He also did get his bag stolen a few months ago in a car park in London. 'It definitely was shocking that I just didn't think. I'm normally pretty cautious when I'm out in public and travelling, but I just didn't think that there were gangs literally just waiting for people and watching.' The mother-of-two will likely never retrieve her stolen items, which where listed online only days after the incident, serving another blow following the California wildfires that threatened their home alongside countless others earlier this year. Recalling the heartbreaking moment, when she saw the bags listed online, she said: 'Unfortunately, I saw the shady looking photos of these guys holding my bags on their lap. '[And] I knew I was probably never getting them back, and who knows how many hands it had touched - at that point I was not really interested. I wasn't going to send anyone to meet with these people. 'I knew they were mine, because one of the Kelly bags was missing a strap, which I had left it in LA.' She added: 'A lot of people assume, "Your husband bought you those" but actually I bought about half of them and I worked really hard and to have someone come up to me and take them from me - it's just frustrating. 'And I know people are going to say, first world problems, but whether you're getting robbed of something that's not worth a lot of value. If it's sentimental, its sentimental. 'My dad was a police officer, so I was raised not to steal from people. I would rather have less and feel good about myself than steal from people and take what isn't mine.' The interior designer had hoped to pass on the valuable bags onto her daughter, and that she also considered them to be a long-term investment for her children. 'I was planning to pass down to my daughter. It's just crazy,' she said: 'I don't really have many things from my parents.' The former Playboy model said the ordeal has marred her view of the UK, as she previously revealed London 'doesn't feel the same' as when she started dating the Forumla One driver 10 years ago. Jenson who is believed to be worth around £123million, according to The Sun, met in 2016 after being introduced by friends in Los Angeles. Prior to his relationship with his current wife the F1 star was married to Jessica Michibata. 'I've heard countless stories,' 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 its just unfortunate because that's where my children's grandmother and aunts live.' British Transport Police Detective Sergeant Marc Farmer previously said: 'This was a brazen and opportunistic theft by a man who took advantage of the victim and her husband having their backs turned for a matter of seconds while loading up their car with luggage. 'He was able to quickly swipe the suitcase without them even noticing, which hammers home just how sneaky these sorts of criminals really are and why it's so important to keep one eye on your belongings at all times. 'While the incident wasn't captured on CCTV, we were still able to trace Aid through other investigative opportunities, and he was arrested by our plain clothes officers just days later. 'Anyone who witnesses or is a victim of theft on the railway network is able to text us for free on 61016.'
Telegraph
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The era of logo mania luggage might just be over
When luxury brand manager Carla Filmer pulled into London's St Pancras station on a delayed Eurostar from Paris, she decided to forgo the Tube and order an Uber in a bid to make up lost time. Instead, she almost ended up with lost luggage. As she got into the back seat of the Uber, two men appeared from nowhere, swiped her suitcase out of the boot and ran off with it – an audacious theft, yes, but one which hadn't banked on the tenacity of Filmer, who promptly gave chase. 'I screamed at the top of my voice for someone to stop them,' she says. 'My case was heavy, and I outran them. I threw myself on top of one of the guys, the case fell out of his hand and I grabbed it back.' That the case was by Louis Vuitton likely hadn't escaped the notice of the thieves. 'Had it been by another brand, they probably wouldn't have tried that hard to steal it,' Filmer admits. 'And if I'm really honest, had it been an Eastpak, would I have chased them so hard? Probably not.' Given a cabin-size case currently retails at £2,570, a piece of monogrammed Louis Vuitton luggage marks out its owner as someone likely to have more swag in their bag than the average traveller. That's the point of status luggage: it acts as a bold visual semaphore that you have arrived – if not at your final destination, then certainly at some degree of success. What happened to Filmer has terrifying echoes of a recent incident reported by F1 driver Jenson Button and his wife Brittny Button, who had £250,000 worth of jewellery and handbags stolen after her suitcase was taken in similar circumstances at the Eurostar in February, when crooks grabbed her bag as the luggage was being loaded into the awaiting car. It's also why an increasing number of travellers are turning their backs on status luggage in favour of more discreet options that deliberately fly under the radar. Gone is that ostentatious 'Joan Collins' approach to travel whereby your trolley is piled high. Instead, they've been replaced by an army of anonymous cases with soft-glide wheels and hard polycarbonate shells, most of which look so freakishly alike on the baggage carousel that it can be a challenge not to walk off with someone else's luggage. But that's a small price to pay for some added peace of mind. As the current spate of luxury watch thefts demonstrates, thieves are highly sophisticated in their targeting of items that have considerable resale worth. Brands such as Rimowa (sleek, aluminium, owned by LVMH) and Globe-Trotter (whose luggage is inspired by the golden age of steam travel) are sitting targets. 'I love my Globe-Trotter far too much to risk using it for travel,' says Courtney, 47, who bought her 'Safari' carry-on twelve years ago (it currently retails for £1,795). 'The last time I checked it in on a flight, it emerged covered in black scuff marks, though admittedly I shouldn't have bought it in such a dirt-magnet as cream.' With smartphone and watch theft steeply on the rise, it stands to reason that luggage theft is also rising. After witnessing her giving chase to her suitcase, a cab driver stopped Filmer to tell her that he'd seen the same thing happen to five other people already that week – and that was only at St Pancras. Travelling by train from the bi-annual fashion event Pitti Uomo in Florence to Milan, meanwhile, some fashion editors routinely hear tales of knowing thieves who board with the sole purpose of stealing expensive bags during the particular route and timings in which the fashion press have loaded their wares. 'Horror stories abound – perhaps based on reality, perhaps partly myth – about gangs leaping onto the carriages and plundering the luggage compartments in a frenzy, focusing on whatever looks the shiniest, knowing that hundreds of fashion professionals are migrating all at once,' says one editor. 'I tend to stick to anonymous black cases with a deliberately raggedy string attached; the sort that any American tourist seeing the sights of Italy might use, rather than someone with a wealth of Prada and Saint Laurent within.' Those thinking of swapping status for security certainly won't be lacking in choice. With a record-breaking five billion people expected to travel via aeroplane in 2025, according to the International Air Transport Association, it's unsurprising that a glut of new luggage brands has risen up to meet demand, including the Australian brand Nere (launched in the UK in 2023) and the Anglo-American Harper Collective, launched in 2023 by Selfridges' merchandising director, Sebastian Manes, and Jaden Smith, the musician son of actors Will and Jada Smith. They're brave to launch into an overcrowded market of mid-priced cases that already includes Horizn Studios (launched in 2015), Away (2016), Paraval (2016), Roam (2017), Monos (2018), Beis (2018), July (2019) and Floyd (2019). All offer varying degrees of 'smartcase' features such as integrated chargers, and many boast of utilising recycled materials. Little wonder the British heritage brand Antler (est 1914) rebranded in 2023, streamlining its cases and offering a lifetime warranty instead of its previous 10 year one. These luggage brands are typically priced between £120 and £360 for a carry-on – exponentially more affordable than a Rimowa. But if you really don't want to get your suitcase stolen? Go for a Tripp, the UK-founded brand whose carry-on cases start at a truly affordable £55. In a rainbow of colours (yellow and fuchsia seem particularly popular), they may not be the pinnacle of chic, but these days, that's a bonus. Covetable luggage is all very well, until it's coveted by the wrong people. Sleek, but discreet luggage to try
