Burglar facing prison for stealing tycoon’s £500k watch collection

Haul: Alexander Duff, left, inside the Regent’s Park house of Sir John Ritblat
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A burglar who stole a collection of rare watches worth £500,000 from one of Britain’s most successful businessmen is facing jail.

Alexander Duff, 44, broke into the £3.8 million Regent’s Park mansion of property magnate Sir John Ritblat after staking out the house.

The collection of 53 watches included Rolex, Patek Philippe and Jaeger-LeCoultre models. Sir John has said that he began collecting rare watches in the Fifties, describing it as “a hobby that is a pleasure — it’s not an investment and it’s not a business”.

Duff and a second man broke into the house in York Terrace East at 9pm on October 23 last year.

Sir John, 81, who is worth an estimated at £180 million, and his wife Jill were not home at the time of the burglary. However, he had installed CCTV cameras which captured Duff entering and leaving the house. He was caught after his photograph was shown on BBC1’s Crimewatch.

Duff, of Hornsey, admitted burglary at Southwark crown court in July and was remanded in custody. He will appear in court tomorrow to determine whether he wants legal representation for the sentencing hearing.

A second man, Marvin Baker, 41, of no fixed address, denied burglary and was found not guilty by a jury yesterday after a two-day trial.

Sir John was chairman of British Land for 36 years after buying it for £1 million in 1970 and reportedly received £57 million for his stake in 2006.

He is a member of the advisory board at the Delancey group, which bought the Olympic Village in 2011, and his son Jamie is the firm’s managing director.

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