A ram-raid pair who smashed into an Yves Saint Laurent boutique in London’s West End and stole handbags worth about £30,000 have each been jailed for 40 months.
Ryan Brough, 32, and Max Tyson, 25, used a black Toyota SUV to break through the fortified windows of the Old Bond Street store at around 3am on January 23.
The pair admitted two counts of conspiracy to burgle relating to five raids between November 11 2025 and January 24 2026, during which luxury goods worth £561,000 were taken.
Footage showed the Toyota reversing into the shopfront several times while a moped rider appeared to keep watch. A man carrying a large plastic bag waited nearby before entering the boutique with the driver.
Once inside, the men rapidly gathered handbags before fleeing. The entire raid lasted about 100 seconds, while several passing motorists slowed down to look at the damage before moving away after being approached by the moped rider.
Brough and Tyson, both from Islington and with previous convictions for theft and robbery, were arrested later the same day by detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad.
The court heard that the same Yves Saint Laurent store had been targeted in November using a Vauxhall Insignia. That attempt was abandoned after the group was disturbed by builders at a nearby construction site.
On December 16, the pair reversed a white Mitsubishi SUV into the Loro Piana store, a short distance from Harrods, and stole goods worth just under £400,000.
Chef Oliver Ndayizeye, 36, admitted encouraging or assisting an offence by providing the Vauxhall Insignia. He was given a 36-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.
Sonny Stringer, 30, admitted handling designer goods taken during the raids and received a 22-month sentence suspended for two years. Harry Johnson, 24, also admitted handling stolen goods and was jailed for 22 months.
Stringer, who was jailed in 2024 after using an e-bike to steal 24 phones in one morning, said he had not been involved in the raids themselves. The court also heard that Tyson made a 600-mile round trip in a day to sell some of the stolen goods, receiving only £1,800 into his bank account.
Detective Constable Will Wigzell, of the Flying Squad, said the organised crime group had carried out “a series of brazen smash-and-grab robberies across some of London’s busiest shopping districts”.
He said: “These robberies have a lasting impact on businesses, their staff and the wider community, affecting livelihoods as well as causing significant emotional and financial harm through the threats, violence and intimidation involved.”
Mr Wigzell added: “They carefully planned their offences, using stolen vehicles and mopeds in an attempt to evade detection, but thanks to the determination and expertise of Flying Squad detectives, they were identified and brought to justice.”
Brough and Tyson waved and blew kisses to relatives in the public gallery as they were led from the dock.
