Moment masked robbers attack ITV star with a HAMMER after storming his shop in violent £200,000 jewellery raid
SHOCKING footage shows the moment armed robbers attacked an ITV star with a hammer after storming his jewellery shop.
Ian Towning, who has appeared on Dickinson’s Real Deal and Posh Pawn, and his security guard Mark Simmons were brutally attacked when robbers James Dixon and Thomas Loring looted the shop in March.
The shocking footage shows the two men entering Mr Towning’s jewellery store with a black duffle bag, both armed with hammers, including one wielding a sledgehammer.
One of the robbers is then seen striking the ITV star over the head with the hammer before shoving him on the floor.
Mr Towning said he has felt vulnerable in the eight months since the ordeal, which happened at his antique shop in Chelsea, west London.
The masked gang managed to steal thousands of pounds worth of jewellery and antiques after smashing glass display cabinets.
Dixon, 42, of Pimlico, central London, and Loring, 41, of Mottingham, south-east London, have been convicted of a string of violent robberies and burglaries – along with the one on Mr Towning’s store – that they committed in and around London earlier this year.
In the raid on Mr Towning’s store in London’s Chelsea, he and Mr Simmons were both hit on the head with a hammer and repeatedly attacked by Dixon, while Loring wielded a sledgehammer.
Describing the devastating effect the raid has had on his life, Mr Towning told MailOnline: “It’s really screwed me up. I haven’t slept well since, and I’m just nervous all the time. And even in my own garden, I feel vulnerable.
“I rarely dare walk down the street now, and if I do I don’t like anyone being behind me, and at a restaurant I sit with my back to the wall because I don’t trust anyone any more.
“My teeth, hips, my arms, shoulders and my head, they all hurt and sometimes when I go into my shop, I don’t like to be in there anymore, and that’s not good for business and Mark feels the same.”
Yesterday, after the case against the two thugs concluded with Loring being found guilty of conspiracy to rob, the Flying Squad officers who snared the offenders described Dixon as being like “a loaded gun walking around ready to go off at any time”.
The pair, who have been on remand since they were arrested, will be sentenced in the new year.
‘VIOLENT ROBBER’
Detective Constable Tom Lockwood added: “Dixon is just ready to go at any moment and unleash whatever violence he needs to.
“He’s a violent robber who’s out to take money as quickly as possible and he doesn’t care about the consequences.”
Flying Squad officers told how Dixon and Loring had previously been convicted of similar offences together and had even been in the same prison before their latest crime wave.
During the raid on March 26, the offenders, who had been previously convicted in 2013 of violently robbing a post office cash-in-transit driver of £24,000, used a reportedly stolen Black Peugeot 208GT car with false plates.
The Flying Squad tracked this back to a known associate of Dixon, which Flying Squad Detective Inspector Kelly Schonhage said was a turning point in the investigation.
She added: “We relied on good, sound detective methods. We meticulously went through hours of CCTV and we looked into the history of the vehicle and that’s when we also knew this was an organised crime group (OCG) and that’s when we started to look into Dixon.”
When the Flying Squad arrested the Loring and Dixon, the pair had just made off with £8,745 in cash from a violent attack on a post office worker on the Old Kent Road, south-east London.
Dixon then spent more than £2,500 cash at Lacoste and Hugo Boss on London’s Regent Street before, the detectives said, phoning up one of his three girlfriends to pick him up.
“He’s an extraordinarily brazen criminal,” said Det Con Lockwood.
“One minute he’s smashing victims around, kicking them and barging them over and inflicting injuries. The next he’s spending the spoils of his crime without any remorse, even using telephones within those stores to phone up people he knows.”
Det Ch Insp Hillier said that the Flying Squad was hoping for severe sentences for Dixon and Loring because of the scope that the Flying Squad has in being able to investigate organised crime groups who are committing multiple crimes.
Following his arrest Dixon pleaded guilty to multiple offences connected to various robberies, an attempted robbery and burglaries.
Loring pleaded not guilty to robbery offences.
At his trial at Kingston upon Thames Crown Court, prosecuting barrister Rupert Kent described one of his roles as a ‘getaway driver.’
It is the second time Towning, who has also appeared on Channel 4‘s Posh Pawn, has been attacked by robbers at his store.
In 2008, the vintage jewellery expert was left covered in blood after confronting a gang wielding sledgehammers and a gun.