Formula One star Lando Norris ‘was put in a headlock and robbed of his £144,000 Richard Mille watch’

F1 star Lando Norris was held in a headlock and had his £144,000 designer watch stolen from his sports car after the Euro 2020 final from Wembley, a court heard today.

The 23-year-old McLaren driver was restrained by an unknown man and the exclusive Richard Mille RM 67-02 watch, designed specifically for the racer, was violently torn from his wrist by a second man.

Harrow Crown Court heard today that Liam Williams, 25, of Bootle, Merseyside, is accused of being the person who stole his watch, leaving its DNA on the racing driver’s arm.

Williams pleaded not guilty to a charge of robbing Norris outside the stadium on 11 July 2021, following England’s loss to Italy on penalties after a 1–1 draw.

Norris had driven his bright orange £165,000 McLaren GT sports car from the Goodwood Festival of Speed ​​to attend the final and parked in the yellow car park.

In his July 12 statement, Norris told police he parked his McLaren in the VIP area, after traveling to the final with a friend named Max.

He returned to the sports car around midnight and posed for a photo with a fan and chatted with members of the public, circling his signature vehicle.

“After attending Wembley Stadium, I was speaking to members of the public and noticed Suspect One and Suspect Two walking around my car, while I was talking to other people.

“I noticed they were looking at me and my car, with the former keeping his head down and his right hand near his pocket.

Suspect One slowly approached me and asked, ‘Is this your car?’ I don’t remember exactly what happened, but Suspect One got behind me and put his right arm around my neck and his left arm under my back.

‘The suspect pulled me towards him and pulled me back onto my neck, meaning he was looking at the sky and couldn’t see it at this point.

Suspect one told suspect two to grab my watch. He yelled several times: ‘Take the watch’.

Suspect one was holding me the whole time and suspect two was trying to grab the watch.

He struggled for a while and then used force to take the watch from me, leaving scratches on my arm.

“As suspect one put his arm around my neck, suspect two managed to remove my watch from my left wrist and they ran down the pedestrian walkway to Rutherford Way.

‘I don’t know where they went from there. My view was blocked.

Recalling the details, the racing driver added: “The suspect was quite close when he put his arm around my neck.”

“Suspect two was ten feet away and I watched suspect one for about ten seconds and the interaction lasted about thirty seconds, not very long.”

The broker gave a second interview on February 12 of last year, confirming that he did not know Williams and that due to covid he had no contact with strangers in the stadium.

Prosecutor Tyrone Silcott told the jury: “Some of you interested in football may remember that day, the day England lost the Euro Cup final at Wembley.”

Mr. Norris attended that game and was returning to his car after the game when two men stole his watch. The Crown case is that this defendant is one of those two men.

We all agree, both the Crown and the defense, that Mr. Norris was robbed. We don’t have to decide if there was a robbery and there is no doubt that two men stole the watch.

The case boils down to one question. Are you sure that the defendant was one of those two robbers? If so, he will condemn it.

Elaborating further, the prosecutor added: “He parked a nice bright orange McLaren motor sports vehicle and when he returned to his car he was speaking to members of the public.

‘He noticed two men walking around his car and one came up and asked, ‘Is this your car?’

He went after Mr. Norris and grabbed him. He put his right arm around his neck and his left arm behind his back and pushed Mr. Norris back, causing him to look up at the sky.

The one pulling him back called to the accomplice to grab the watch and the other man removed the watch from his wrist, scratching his left wrist in doing so.

“Mr Norris was able to describe one as a white male of average build, short hair in his twenties or thirties who he thought had a London accent.

“This defendant does not have a London accent,” Silcott added. He also described the first man as wearing a black hooded jacket and black pants.

“The second man was wearing gray clothing and had a hood on and Mr. Norris did not see this man, he was backing up and he doesn’t think he can recognize this man again.”

CCTV recorded the incident. “You can see someone going after the figure and pulling them, but there’s no way you can make an ID from the CCTV.”

The watch was described as a limited edition prototype, with a custom made blue strap, designed to fit the racing driver and has never been available to the retail public.

Two swabs were taken from Norris’s left wrist, revealing that Williams’s DNA was 37 million times more likely to be present than that of an unknown person.

Analysis of his mobile phone also revealed a trip from Liverpool to the Wembley Stadium area on July 11, where he stayed until the early morning of July 12 before returning home on July 13.

There’s no sensible explanation for his DNA being on that scraped-up doll.

In an identity lineup, the racing driver was unable to identify Williams.

The trial continues, Norris denies the robbery.