Teenager who threatened Aled Jones admits Rolex robberies with machete

Tristan Kirk, Press Association Courts Editor

A teenager who once threatened to decapitate TV presenter Aled Jones and left a Bridgerton star traumatised after trying to steal her phone is facing more time in prison after admitting arming himself with a machete to steal Rolex watches.

Zacariah Boulares was just 16 years old when he ambushed Songs Of Praise star Mr Jones in Chiswick High Road in 2023, threatening to cut off his head after snatching his £17,000 Daytona Rolex watch.

He is currently serving a 22-month prison sentence for an incident in February last year when he tried to steal Bridgerton actress Genevieve Chenneour’s mobile phone at a branch of Joe & The Juice on Kensington High Street.

Now, Boulares has admitted arming himself with a machete for two robberies in August 2023, when he targeted victims for their Rolex watches.

He robbed Mark Turner in Kensington Square Gardens, west London, on August 9 2023, and 10 days later he struck again in a failed bid to steal a Rolex watch from Neil Tallantire outside Waitrose in Porchester Road, Bayswater.

Around six weeks later, Boulares went on to target Mr Jones.

On Friday at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Alexander Milne KC adjourned the cases for a psychological assessment of Boulares and a probation report on “dangerousness” to be finalised for the sentencing hearing.

Boulares, now 19, appeared in the dock to plead guilty to the robbery of Mr Turner, having admitted the attempted robbery against Mr Tallantire at an earlier hearing.

He has also pleaded guilty to possession of a machete during both incidents.

In July 2025, Boulares was jailed at Isleworth Crown Court for a string of crimes including the attempt to steal Ms Chenneour’s phone and a theft from a blind woman.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Martin Edmunds KC, the Recorder of Kensington and Chelsea, 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 & The Juice when Boulares came up behind her and reached out to grab her iPhone 14 from the side.

CCTV captured the moment he was confronted and wrestled to the ground.

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

The attack on Mr Jones happened when Boulares was too young to be publicly identified.

The teenager had trailed the TV star along the road and pulled out a machete, shouting “give me your Rolex or I will cut your arm off”.

After the robbery, Boulares noticed that Mr Jones was following him from a distance, and he told him to “walk the other way or I will cut your head 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.

Boulares, from Feltham, south London, is due to appear in court again on August 11, when a sentencing date will be set

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