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Former world boxing champion Amir Khan feared his ‘kids would grow up without their dad’ during the gunpoint robbery of his £70,000 diamond-encrusted watch.
The 2004 Olympic silver medallist, 36, was targeted as he and his wife Faryal Makhdoom, 31, left the Sahara Grill restaurant in Leyton, east London, on April 18 last year.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how gunman Dante Campbell, 20, forced Khan to hand over his bespoke rose gold, diamond-encrusted Franck Muller watch worth between £60,000 to £70,000 that was gifted to him following a boxing match.
The Bolton-born boxer previously told the court the robber pointed a gun in his face and said: ‘Take off the watch.’
Khan, who retired last year with a professional record of 34 wins from his 40 fights, has now opened up about the ordeal in an interview with the Sun on Sunday.
Former world boxing champion Amir Khan gives a thumbs up as he arrives at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Saturday
Khan was targeted as he and his wife Faryal Makhdoom (right), 31, left the Sahara Grill restaurant in Leyton, east London
‘In that moment, you think the worst… that the kids could be growing up without their dad, that Faryal would be raising them on her own,’ he told the paper.
‘Your life flashes before your eyes. I leant my head to the right because I thought, if he is going to shoot me, he can shoot the side of my head. I don’t want to see the bullet coming.’
Gunman Campbell, from Hornsey in North London, and getaway driver Ahmed Bana, 25, from Tottenham, admitted conspiracy to commit robbery and possession of an imitation firearm during a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
They will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.
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On Friday, 24-year-old Ismail Mohamed, from Edmonton, and 25-year-old Nurul Amin, from Harringay, were unanimously acquitted by a jury of conspiracy to rob Khan.
Prosecutors had claimed Mohamed and Amin acted as ‘spotters’, dining in the restaurant to keep track of Mr Khan’s movements and relay them by phone to Bana.
Khan, who has been confirmed for the upcoming I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! all-stars ITV series in South Africa, said: ‘It was the first time I’ve ever seen a gun in my life. I could see down the barrel.
‘I remember looking back seeing where my wife was. She ran back on the road and screamed “help!”
Khan was robbed of this diamond-encrusted Franck Muller Vanguard Chronograph watch worth between £60,000 and £70,000
‘At the time, I didn’t know what he wanted. I thought maybe this is a prank. I just took off the watch, he grabbed it.’
He added: ‘People said after, “You should’ve fought them”. Are they stupid? I’ve got a family. It’s only a watch. My life means more to me.
‘When you have kids, you have a priority to make sure they are looked after. I am the breadwinner for the family. If I was with the kids, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Maybe I would have panicked and tried to run.’
His wife reportedly added: ‘I thought we were going to die on the spot.’
Khan said he had been shopping in the Knightsbridge area while his influencer wife was doing a photoshoot before the couple ate dinner with his friend Omar Khalid, breaking the Ramadan fast.
The robbery, which lasted just seconds, happened after they left the restaurant.
