A robber who was jailed for ambushing Arsenal stars Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac in 2019 has bemoaned missing out an a haul of expensive watches, insisting: ‘You win some, you lose some.’
In a staggering interview, Ashley Smith recalls the day he and his accomplice Jordan Northover confronted the footballers – with the latter wielding a knitting needle.
Kolasinac stood up to the muggers and fended them off before they sped away on a motorbike. Ozil and his wife Amine had been in the car.
Smith was sentenced to 10 years in jail in November 2019 after attempting to steal luxury watches worth £200,000 – though he claims they were worth over a £1million.
He recalled his disappointment at failing in the robbery – but insisted, in rather blase fashion, that one ‘cannot cry over spilled milk’.
‘I was on the run. I was wanted on recall. I had an argument with my mum – I cut my tag off. So, my co-D, he rang me and was like, “I’m on the run too. Let’s roll.” He’s like, “you got a bev?,” I’m like, “cool,”‘ Smith told the BlueTick Show.
Ashley Smith and Jordan Northover ambushed Sead Kolasinac, Mesut Ozil, and his wife Amine to try and steal watches in July 2019
Kolasinac stood up to the assailants, who were jailed for the attempted robbery that November
Now Smith has given his recount of the day on a podcast – and detailed his disappointment on missing out on what he claims was over £1million worth of watches
‘So I’m like, come meet me. We jumped on the bike one night, done whatever we were doing. Made about… it was dumb change, innit, it was young peas.
‘But I was saying park up, he’s like, “no, let’s stay out for another half-hour.” Driving, seen Mesut Ozil, Kolasinac next to G-wagon, pulled up.
‘Yeah, my co-D tried to get it, it went left. Yeah, it went left. We missed out on the belly that day. But you win some, you lose some, you know?
‘I don’t even want to talk about the figures, to be honest with you. 150 easy, minimum. There was, like, three RMs in that car that day, five-carat Kim Kardashian…’
‘So, what, a million pounds worth of s*** in there, half a million quid?’ the host asked.
Smith replied: ‘Easy, easy. Just the watches alone. Yeah, it would have been (the biggest robbery I had done). I’ve had a few big ones, had a few little ones. It’s the luck of the draw. You don’t know what you’re going to get.
‘It wasn’t even a knife, it was a knitting needle! When we saw it, our eyes, we weren’t even thinking. It was like, the belly. We got too hungry. It wasn’t like we planned it.
‘Everyone thinks it was a knife, it was a knitting needle. It was in the rucksack, innit. That’s to get something – you use the knitting needle to hook keys, innit.
‘When I pulled up next to him, the guy was a lump. My co-D was a savage. He’s on, he’s up. We got away. We parked up, got us home, got away. I was fuming, I was upset. It happens, though. You can’t cry over spilled milk.
Ozil’s wife Amine was in the car that the two robbers tried to steal the watches from
Ozil was one of Arsenal’s best players in the 2010s and famed for his creative spark on the pitch
Kolasinac showed his bravery in standing up to the assailants, who were jailed for their actions
‘To cut a long story short, I got ten (years in jail sentenced) for that. I didn’t even make a pound note. I was involved, I was a driver.’
CCTV footage of the attack showed Smith’s accomplice Northover pulling the weapon on Kolasinac and using it to jab at his face and neck – but the hardman didn’t flinch as he squared up to the robbers and tried to knock them out.
As the robbers panicked, Mr Ozil screamed to his teammate to ‘jump in’, sparking a mile-long high-speed chase through north London.
Eventually the 4×4 was abandoned outside a Golders Green Turkish restaurant where the footballers and Mrs Ozil ran inside and called the police.
