Violent robbers jailed after attacking celebrity antique dealer with hammers in his shop

A pair of violent robbers who attacked a celebrity antique dealer with hammers at his exclusive Chelsea shop, have been jailed for a total of 31 years.

James Dixon, 42, and Thomas Loring, 41, launched the savage attack against Ian Towning – who is a regular face on TV starring on Dickinson’s Real Deal and Posh Pawn – and his colleague Mark Simmons, 60.

The horrific onslaught saw the thugs charge into Mr Towning’s Bourbon Hanbury store before the celebrity dealer was viciously struck over the head with a hammer.

In harrowing CCTV footage released by the Met Police, a bloodied Mr Towning can be heard screaming in terror as he cowers on the floor while his store is ransacked, with the thugs making off with £200,000 of jewellery.

The TV star is heard yelling: “Oh my God, oh my God,” after falling to the ground in agony from the blow.

Dixon, of Pimlico, central London, and Loring, of Mottingham, south-east London, were convicted of a string of violent robberies and burglaries – along with the one at Mr Towning’s store – that they committed in and around London last year and were yesterday sentenced for their reign of terror.

Today appearing before Kingston Crown Court Dixon was sentenced to 17 years behind bars for conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to steal, robbery of cash and possession of an offensive weapon.

Accomplice Loring was jailed for 14 years for conspiracy to commit robbery.

Detective Inspector Kelly Schonhage, who led the investigation said: “It is simply not right that any individual considers themselves free to steal and bully those around them, just as James Dixon and Thomas Loring left in their wake a series of serious injuries and distress following violent robberies across London and Kent.

“We know from our investigation that this criminal network was proficient, competent and well-organised, with an in-depth understanding of forensics. But thanks to the painstaking work of officers, the victims of Dixon and Loring have been given the justice they deserve.

“We continue to use innovative methods, data and technology to build intelligence about robbery and combat violent crime in the capital which our New Met for London plan highlights is a priority for the Met.”

The court heard that Dixon and Loring were part of an organised crime network based in south London that targeted cash in transit vans, Post Offices and a jeweller’s in a spate of violent incidents that left victims with serious injuries. In one incident in March 2023, two shop workers in their 70s were attacked with a claw hammer during a robbery on an antique jewellery shop in Chelsea, when around £200,000 worth of jewellery was stolen.

The pair were arrested following an attack on Wednesday, 19 June 2023 on a cash in transit worker at a Post Office on the Old Kent Road where they punched and kicked the custodian, stealing £26,000.

As part of the Met’s determination to bring justice to the victims affected, specialist officers in the Met’s Flying Squad painstakingly reviewed hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, and used evidential profiling, analysis of DNA and vehicle monitoring technology.

Flying Squad officers who snared the offenders described Dixon as being like “a loaded gun walking around ready to go off at any time”.

Describing the devastating effect the raid has had on his life, Mr Towning said: “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 anymore.

“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.”

Detective Constable Tom Lockwood said: “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.”

Dixon and Loring had previously been convicted of similar offences together and had even been in the same prison before their latest crime wave.

Dixon had been out of prison only for seven months before he committed his first violent crime and did so while on licence, a term that had been extended by five years because he had punched a prison governor in the face when a parole hearing hadn’t gone his way.

Det Con Lockwood said that Dixon had been offending since he was a teenager.

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.

Horrifying video showed them running into the store, before hitting one man with a hammer as he tried to run away. They push another man to the floor, before battering Mr Towning as reacts in terror.

The stricken antiques dealer then screams as he falls to the floor in fear of his life, as Loring slams the sledgehammer on to the table. With chilling pleas of “oh my god!”, he clings onto the second man and lies on the floor while the two men loot his store.

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 Inspector 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.’

Det Insp Schonhage said that the offences were carried out with three different cars that had been reported stolen and that Dixon and Loring had 13 mobile phones between them.

She revealed that police used information from the SIM cards embedded within the vehicles to determine where the vehicles had been travelling or parked, which is known as telematics.

And through the SIMs in the mobile phones connecting with masts, police could track the pair’s movements and behaviour patterns before, during and after offences were taking place, and this also gave police an insight into the habits of the offenders and their associates.

When the Flying Squad arrested Loring and Dixon, the pair had just made off with £8,745 in cash from the violent attack on the Post Office worker.

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,” added 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.”

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”.

He added that after the Old Kent Road robbery, Loring “was seen to be driving at up to 60mph in a bus lane, before making a U-turn, travelling back up the Old Kent Road at speeds of up to 70mph”.

Mr Kent said: “Mr Loring is obviously an accomplished driver and adept at using a sledgehammer.

It took a jury only 42 minutes to convict Loring of his role in conspiring to rob cash-in-transit drivers and shops between March and June this year.

At the news of the convictions, Mr Towning said: “I’m emotional and choked up. I’m glad they’ve been put away because they are monsters.

“They have no regard for anyone. They just wanted to rob and beat us up, they are totally disgusting.

“Hopefully by the time they will be out they will be old men.”

Last night he added: “The support we got from the police was absolutely fantastic. They’ve been there for me every minute. They’ve always been there. That’s what the police are there for, to help you, to guide you, to take you through it.”

Senior Security Manager at the Post Office Mark Dinsdale said: “Where Postmasters, or our own cash delivery drivers, are the victims of crime this has a devastating impact on them and also a knock-on-effect on our branches’ ability to provide everyday cash and banking services to local communities.”