A blackmail gang who held a football stars’ barber hostage with a machete while demanding £500,000 have been jailed for a total of 27 years.
Quentin Cepeljac was rescued by police at St Pancras train station in the early hours of June 6, last year after he was held captive in a basement Airbnb flat in Shepherds Bush, west London, for nine hours.
Mr Cepeljac is known for cutting footballers’ hair including Ajax winger Mika Godts and Anderlecht FC midfielder Mario Stroeykens, and has also been photographed with rapper Central Cee on his Instagram account.
The 21-year-old had been lured to London from Brussels after he was identified by Davina Raaymakers, 20, as a ‘useful target’ on TikTok.
Blonde Raaymakers promised him a weekend with her in a luxury tenth-floor flat, but the barber was lured to the Airbnb where her ex-boyfriend Adlan Haji, 28, Alexander Khalil, 30, and Omar Sharif, 24, were waiting.
Mr Cepeljac turned up at the Airbnb at around 7pm in the evening, believing it was Raaymakers’ ‘luxury home’, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
As soon as he arrived, he was met by Haji in the living room who was a holding a machete, while Sharif and Khalil appeared from an en-suite bathroom with ‘large knives’.
All four defendants appeared in the dock today for sentencing. Raaymakers was jailed for five years and four months, Haji for seven years and seven months, while Sharif and Khalil were caged for six years and nine months, and seven years and seven months respectively.
The court heard Mr Cepeljac was punched and kicked by the thugs as they demanded £500,000 from his cryptocurrency account.
Haji at one point held a ‘large machete’ to Mr Cepeljac’s throat during the nine hour ordeal
At one point, Mr Cepeljac was put on the bed and €500 in cash, a Louis Vuitton card holder, and a pair of Cartier sunglasses were taken from him.
Nicholas Dunham KC, prosecuting, said: ‘Mr Haji held a knife to his throat, while the other two defendants held a large knife to his leg, and told Mr Cepeljac they were going to stab him.
‘Mr Cepeljac was later pushed onto the floor, where Mr Haji held a machete to his throat again.
‘Mr Khalil told Mr Haji to stab Mr Cepeljac if he left the bathroom in the en-suite bathroom.
‘£500,000 in crypto currency was initially demanded. Clearly the assailants thought Mr Cepeljac had a lot of crypto currency.
‘Mr Cepeljac was in a vulnerable situation because he was in the UK and did not know anyone. He was effectively detained for nine hours.’
Mr Dunham said that bleach, masks, and gloves were used to cover up blood stains.
When Mr Cepeljac showed the gang that he had only nine dollars, Haji shouted: ‘Are you kidding me.’
Haji later told Mr Cepeljac: ‘Someone did you dirty, and I did not want to do this. Please don’t tell anyone else. I didn’t want to do this’.
At one point, Haji forced Mr Cepeljac to turn on Facetime so his friend could see the machete to his throat, while demanding the friend to transfer money.
The gang also showed Mr Cepeljac a video of the gang allegedly stabbing a previous victim to intimidate him, while ‘begging’ his friend to send money.
When Mr Cepeljac’s friend insulted Haji, Haji became irate, and brutally punched Mr Cepelajc in the face.
Mr Cepeljac was later taken to St Pancras in a car and was dropped off at 5am, while Raaymakers was on the phone to him pretending to be a cop, ‘discouraging him from talking to police’, Mr Dunham said.
Mr Cepeljac was told by the gang that they knew where his parents lived back home in Belgium and would turn up at his house if he ‘snitched’, said Mr Dunham.
Mr Cepljac’s friend had reported what happened to Belgian police, who contacted the Metropolitan Police. The Met’s Flying Squad later spotted Mr Cepeljac in the departure lounge at St Pancras station.
Mr Dunham said: ‘Mr Cepeljac told police what happened, and gave them the address on Lime Grove.’
The court heard that the defendants were arrested on August 15 last year. Haji and Raaymakers were identified on an ID parade, while the others were tracked down by CCTV and telephone evidence.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Cepeljac said: ‘The incident was very traumatic. At the time I just wanted to get home back to Belgium. It was only after I got home when I realised what had happened.
‘I was intimidated with large knives, and I was kicked and shoved. I only had bruises on my body, but it impacted me mentally.
‘In December 2024, I was recommended by my doctor to seek psychiatric help. I have had flashbacks.
‘I have struggles sleeping sometimes, remembering being in that room with knives and what they did to me.
‘I am more anxious and stressed then I was before. I struggled initially to trust people, and I now have trust issues, especially after receiving the messages from people pretending to be the police after the incident.
‘The men who threatened me said they knew where I lived back in Belgium. I am now very nervous when I answer the front door. My parents are also weary. They have been supportive, but are also shaken by what happened.
‘I am very nervous when coming off the Eurostar in London. I have considered never coming back to London.
‘I have had to cancel a lot of clients within my hairdressing business, which has hurt my income. It has damaged my business.
‘£2,000 was transferred out of my account, and £300 in cash was taken from me.
‘I was extremely worried about travelling to London and seeing these people in court.
‘Not only did I not want to see them, I also feared that there could be repercussions if I stood against them in court.
‘I don’t want to put myself or my parents in any further danger.’
Khalil, from Watford, Sharif, of Brent, Haji, of Ilford, and Raaymakers, of North Acton, all pleaded guilty to one count of blackmail.
The court heard Sharif was on bail and subject to a community order at the time of the offence.
All defendants denied charges of kidnap and false imprisonment which were ordered to lie on file.
The judge, Ms Recorder Nicola Shannon told the defendants: ‘The principal threats of violence took place in the first few hours. You threatened to kill Mr Cepeljac at knife point, and told him his fingers would be cut off if he did not agree to a crypto currency transfer.
‘Mr Cepeljac lives at home with his parents in Belgium. Those threats have stayed with him, and he continues to live in fear of that occurring for both himself and his parents.
‘You were impressed by his online persona and assumed he had substantial amounts of money. The object of this exercise in my view was purely financial. Mr Cepeljac was targeted by your group as a result of his perceived wealth.
‘He had been lured to the flat by you, Miss Raaymakers. You asked if he could cut your hair. You moved to Instagram and then onto WhatsApp so you could be more private in your assertion.
‘In reality, that was so the messages could be harder for police to discover. Then you deceived him. The digital trail would have run cold, as was the intention of your group.
‘It was a classic honey trap operation. The set up was elaborate. A minicab was booked to pick up Mr Cepeljac in a different name. An Airbnb was set up with a fake identity.
‘An innocent landlord had their property used as a result of your deception. All of this was fiction.
‘You were not as experienced as you thought. You spilt bleach on Mr Cepeljac’s clothing, and on your clothing. Each of you played your part in threatening and intimidating him. He told you only had £2,000 in dollars, at which point Mr Haji kicked him in the stomach.’
‘None of you have been willing to advance how this enterprise came into being or your relationships in the group. None of you have asserted a basis for alternative inferences.
Raaymakers was jailed for five years and four months, Haji for seven years and seven months, while Sharif and Khalil were caged for six years and nine months, and seven years and seven months respectively.
Raaymakers will serve her sentence in a young offender’s institution.
The gang were also ordered to pay £908 in compensation to Mr Cepeljac.
