Moment US events company boss is mugged for his watch after being targeted in Mayfair

This is the moment a US events company boss was ambushed in Mayfair by thugs who snatched his watch from his wrist.

CCTV footage shows J. Riccardo Benavides, founder of Ideas Events, emerge from a taxi and approach a hotel before he was pounced on outside Cavalry & Guards Club on October 14.

Three men can initially be seen strolling down the street before the taxi pulls up – but one turns around and stands poised by the hotel entrance, ready to tackle Mr Benavides.

The thief approaches the businessman in what first appears to be a friendly manner but a brawl quickly erupts, with two other men piling in to snatch his watch.

Mr Benavides wrote on social media: ‘A little heads-up for my fellow travellers – I was mugged last week in Mayfair, London.

‘Yes, they got my watch… but I’m fine (and did fight them off, though I could’ve sworn there were ten of them!

‘They scouted me as I was getting out of the cab and heading into the hotel…thank goodness the hotel had cameras!

‘London police say these watch thefts are happening all the time now in Mayfair. So please, be extra cautious …especially as we head into the busy holiday season.’

Have YOU been targeted by watch thieves? Email freya.barnes@dailymail.co.uk 

Three men can initially be seen strolling down the street before the taxi carrying the business man pulls up

CCTV footage shows J. Riccardo Benavides, founder of Ideas Events, emerge from a taxi and approach a hotel before he is pounced on

Mr Benavides also filmed his own reaction as he watched the theft play out in the CCTV footage.

He said: ‘They’re looking at me. They sort of come back. There’s that one with the hat – he stages himself.’

Watching the crooks as they pounce, Mr Benavides adds: ‘And that’s where I think I hurt my back.

‘He’s pushing my back. Now he’s got my watch and he’s running.’

Earlier this week, the Conservatives warned a ‘massive crimewave’ was heading to Britain.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said a new study by the National Audit Office (NAO) indicated probation officers ‘won’t be able to cope’ due to a large number of criminals being handed community punishments instead of jail.

Official crime figures, published on Thursday, showed a spike in crimes such as shoplifting and drugs during Labour’s first year in power.

Now, spending watchdogs have found probation will have a staffing shortfall of more than 3,000 next year, partly due to the Government’s sentencing reforms.

Changes to the way offenders are supervised in the community ‘may pose a risk to the service’s aims of public protection and rehabilitation’, they added.

Responding to the NAO’s warnings, Robert Jenrick said: ‘It’s clear the Probation Service won’t be able to cope with the mass release of dangerous prisoners.

‘They are being asked to do an impossible task.’

Some 5,180 luxury watches worth more than £3,000 were snatched in the capital between January 2022 and July 2025, but only 59 were found – just one in 88.

The worst borough for thefts over the three-and-a-half year period was Kensington and Chelsea with 493, then Westminster at 480, Camden at 272 and Lambeth at 251.

Next worst were Hackney at 224, Tower Hamlets at 186 and Barnet at 179, according to the Metropolitan Police data released under the Freedom of Information Act.

But the annual number of reported thefts is falling, with 1,974 watches stolen in 2022 and 2,048 in 2023, followed by 781 last year and 377 for the first half of 2025 to July.

Just 28 timepieces were recovered in each of 2022 and 2023, then just three last year and zero so far this year. 

The most-stolen brand across the period was Rolex at 1,788, followed by Cartier at 285, Omega at 217, Breitling at 121 and Hublot at 97.

Have YOU been targeted by watch thieves? Email freya.barnes@dailymail.co.uk