Five watches worth £3MILLION: Incredible collection seized from fraudster who tried to flee the UK

Published: 13:37 EDT, 8 October 2026 | Updated: 13:37 EDT, 8 October 2026 Luxury watches seized from a millionaire fraudster at the UK border could fetch upwards of £3million at auction.Wilsons Auctions, which is expected to sell jewellery seized from disgraced former SNP chief Peter Murrell, is selling the five rare watches - one worth at least £1million - at a 24-hour online auction later this month.The timepieces were seized by HMRC from a fraud suspect who tried to flee the UK after their multi-million-pound payroll con was exposed.He’d spent more than £7million of his ill-gotten-gains on luxury watches over a three-year period while pocketing cash from their staff’s payslips via a bogus third-party payroll firm.The auction firm is the main one used by UK police to sell recovered stolen goods.James Guiler, luxury goods specialist at Wilsons Auctions, said: ‘This is one of the most exciting groups of watches we have had the privilege of offering at Wilsons Auctions.'A Philippe Dufour Simplicity is a watch many collectors wait years just to see, let alone buy, and to have it in the same sale as a Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar and a limited edition Royal Oak is exceptional.‘These are masterpieces of craftsmanship from some of the most respected names in watchmaking, and because the sale is unreserved, every one of them will sell on the day. Wilsons Auctions is selling the five rare watches A Philippe Dufour Simplicity, one of roughly 200 in existence, will be sold in its original box‘It is a fantastic catalogue and we are still building with more luxury assets.’A Philippe Dufour Simplicity, one of roughly 200 in existence, will be sold in its original box. Dufour’s watches are rare because he makes them by hand at a rate of 18 per year.His signature and the watch’s serial number have been manually engraved onto solid gold plates on the watch. The Simplicity models usually sell for at least £1million.One of the most complex watches in the world, the Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Split Seconds Chronograph, is expected to sell for up to £450,000.It has a calendar capable of tracking leap years and varying month lengths for hundreds of years and a stopwatch that can time two events at once.Two Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks and an Omega Speedmaster Racing, together worth almost £300,000, were also seized and are now going under the hammer on Thursday, October 29.It is understood Wilsons Auctions could auction off Murrell’s now infamous motorhome in a bid to recoup his ill-gotten gains.He embezzled more than £400,000 from the party and was jailed for his crimes in June.The motorhome, which cost £124,550 and was bought with SNP cash, was parked outside of his mother’s home in Dunfermline, Fife, and seized as part of Operation Branchform.The Crown Office said it intends to recover some of the value of Murrell’s fraudulently obtained haul through proceeds of crime legislation.The SNP, as the ‘victim’ of the crime, would receive compensation but individual donors could take legal action to recoop moneys taken by Murrell over 12 years.