Celebrity antiques dealer's fury as masked robbers raid store and beat him with hammer

Ian Towning, a regular look connected Dickinson’s Real Deal and Posh Pawn, expressed his choler aft James Dixon and Thomas Loring were convicted of a drawstring of convulsive robberies and burglaries

A personage jewellery and antiques trader - often seen connected TV - has branded 2 thugs who raided his store and attacked him with a hammer arsenic "vicious and evil".

Ian Towning and his information defender Mark Simmons were brutally attacked arsenic masked robbers James Dixon and Thomas Loring cleared the store of £120,000 worthy of jewellery. Mr Towning, a regular look connected Dickinson’s Real Deal and Posh Pawn, said helium has felt susceptible successful the 8 months since the ordeal, which happened astatine his antiques store successful Chelsea, westbound London.

"It's truly screwed maine up. I haven’t slept good since, and I'm conscionable tense each the time. And adjacent successful my ain garden, I consciousness vulnerable. I seldom situation locomotion down the thoroughfare now, and if I bash I don’t similar anyone being down me, and astatine a edifice I beryllium with my backmost to the partition due to the fact that I don’t spot anyone anymore, " the antiques trader said.

Dixon, 42, and Loring, 41, person been convicted of a drawstring of convulsive robberies and burglaries - on with the 1 connected Mr Towning's store - that they committed successful and astir London earlier this year. The pair, who person been connected remand since they were arrested, volition beryllium sentenced successful the caller year.

Flying Squad officers, who snared the offenders, aft putting them nether surveillance, described Dixon arsenic being similar "a loaded weapon walking astir acceptable to spell disconnected astatine immoderate time". They spoke connected Tuesday aft the yobs had appeared astatine Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court.

Detective Constable Tom Lockwood, of the Metropolitan Police, added: "Dixon is conscionable acceptable to spell astatine immoderate infinitesimal and unleash immoderate unit helium needs to. He’s a convulsive robber who’s retired to instrumentality wealth arsenic rapidly arsenic imaginable and helium doesn’t attraction astir the consequences."

Dixon, from Pimlico, City of Westminster, had lone been retired of situation for 7 months earlier helium committed his archetypal convulsive transgression and did truthful portion connected licence, a word that had been extended by 5 years due to the fact that helium had punched a situation politician successful the look erstwhile a parole proceeding hadn’t gone his way, reports Mail Online.

Detective Chief Inspector Laura Hillier, of the Flying Squad astatine Met Police, said: "We are going to speech to the justice up of sentencing astir Dixon’s dangerousness truthful that erstwhile helium is yet released determination volition beryllium enhanced probation and licensing aspects due to the fact that it’s truly important to amusement his past past of offending and the interaction it’s had connected his victims and the assemblage arsenic a whole."

Mr Towning and Mr Simmons were some deed connected the caput with a hammer and repeatedly attacked by Dixon, who constabulary accidental has been offending since helium was a teenager. Loring wielded a sledgehammer successful the raid connected March 26.

The Flying Squad utilized quality to nexus the brace with the onslaught and, erstwhile they had arrested them, the duo had conscionable made disconnected with £8,745 successful currency from a convulsive onslaught connected a station bureau idiosyncratic connected the Old Kent Road, southeast London. Dixon past spent much than £2,500 currency astatine Lacoste and Hugo Boss connected London’s Regent Street before, the detectives said, phoning up 1 of his 3 girlfriends to prime him up.

"He’s an extraordinarily brazen criminal," said Det Con Lockwood. "One infinitesimal he’s smashing victims around, kicking them and barging them implicit and inflicting injuries. The adjacent he’s spending the spoils of his transgression without immoderate remorse, adjacent utilizing telephones wrong those stores to telephone up radical helium knows."

Following his arrest, Dixon pleaded blameworthy to aggregate offences connected to assorted robberies, an attempted robbery and burglaries. Loring, from Mottingham, southeast London, pleaded not blameworthy to robbery offences but was convicted successful court.