Teenager who robbed stars admits machete threat

A teenager who threatened to decapitate TV presenter Aled Jones and left a Bridgerton star traumatised after trying to steal her phone, has pleaded guilty to another attempted robbery with a machete.

Zacariah Boulares was armed with the weapon when he tried to steal a Rolex watch from Neil Tallantire in Bayswater, west London, in August 2023 - six weeks after robbing the Songs of Praise star, Aled Jones.

Boulares appeared at Southwark Crown Court to admit attempted robbery and possession of a machete.

The 19-year-old from Feltham was warned to expect a "substantial" prison term and will be remanded in custody until his sentencing in June.

In July 2025, Boulares was sentenced to 22 months in prison at Isleworth Crown Court for a string of crimes, including the attempt to steal actor Genevieve Chenneour's phone and a theft from a blind woman.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Martin Edmunds KC said Boulares had targeted wealthy areas for "rich pickings", in a "systematic pattern of stealing from people as they are enjoying a meal or refreshment at a restaurant".

"You seem to be plagued by an attitude that if people can afford nice things, then you can take them," he said.

"It's clear you are completely willing to use violence when challenged, and it's a matter of the deepest regret that individuals have been left feeling they don't want to come to London or they should leave London."

The court heard that Boulares has already accumulated 12 convictions for 28 offences, including violence, threatening behaviour, weapon possession and theft.

Ms Chenneour had been waiting for her order at Joe and the Juice when Boulares came up behind her and reached out to grab her iPhone 14 from the side.

He later admitted that crime and the theft of a blind woman's handbag at Five Guys in Kensington, and stealing another woman's rucksack as she dined at Pizza Pilgrims on Kingly Street, central London, in January and February 2025.

The attack on baritone Jones happened as the star walked along Chiswick High Road in west London. Boulares, then 16, pointed a machete at his face, stole his £17,000 Daytona Rolex watch, and threatened to cut off his head.

Ealing Youth Court was told the teenager trailed the TV star along the road and pulled out a machete, shouting "give me your Rolex or I will cut your arm off".

He was sentenced to a 24-month youth detention and training order, having also admitted stealing a £20,000 Rolex from a man in his 70s at Paddington station in west London in May 2023.

"You must expect that on your return to court a substantial custodial sentence awaits," Judge Weekes told him before he was led away from the dock.

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