Jail for Harrow man who robbed teens at Bicester Village

CCTV cameras in the shopping outlet car park captured the moment Reece Gordon and a man he claimed to know only as ‘Smiley’ approached the victims’ car on February 16, having followed the couple from the Moncler store.

Smiley took the lead in the knifepoint robbery, pulling out a blade and threatening the man in the driver’s seat.

Gordon, 27, who was convicted of robbery and attempted robbery as a 15-year-old youth, was at the back of the car and did not make threats towards the young couple.

He was identified and later arrested, having driven his own vehicle from London to the Bicester shopping centre.

But he denied involvement in the robbery, claiming to have thought the coat was payment for a debt. He had gone to Bicester that day to spend his birthday money.

READ MORE: Prosecution opens case against Bicester Village robber

Jurors rejected his account, however, finding him guilty last month of two counts of robbery. ‘Smiley’ remains at large. 

Jailing Gordon for four years at Oxford Crown Court on Monday (September 4), Recorder Alexander McGregor said the teen man forced to hand over his £665 Moncler jacket and cash had been left suffering flashbacks to the incident and was ‘very anxious about his safety’.

The teenager’s girlfriend said she was now ‘nervous all the time’ and had experienced a panic attack in the street because she ‘felt somebody was after her’, the judge said.

The robbery was committed in Bicester Village shopping centre Picture: NQ

“You have been convicted of two counts of robbery. These were serious offences and have had a negative impact on the lives of the two young people who were, with your assistance, put in fear of serious violence while they were out shopping together,” Recorder McGregor said.

The judge concluded that the robbery had been ‘pre-planned’, and that Gordon and ‘Smiley’ were ‘working together as a team’.

In addition to the jail sentence, Gordon was ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation to the victim whose coat and cash were stolen.

Earlier, defence brief Helen Dawson noted her client had played a different role to main mover ‘Smiley’. She suggested he was ‘easily led’.

Her client was supported by a number of character references from family and friends. One woman, who had known Gordon since childhood and ‘taught him to skip in reception’, described him as ‘compassionate, respectful and hardworking’.

Gordon, of Harrow, had offered to pay compensation, recognising how frightening the incident had been to the victims.