A VIOLENT moped thief exposed by Amanda Holden after trying to snatch a three-year-old toddler from his mum was a star of smash hit TV show Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, Sun Online can reveal today.
John McFadyen, 24, was part of a 12-man gang jailed yesterday for a total of 68 years after a series of shocking raids across London.
Chilling CCTV footage shows McFadyen and an accomplice trying to rob Britain’s Got Talent star Amanda’s neighbour and threatening her child in Richmond, South West London, last June.
The cowardly thugs were exposed by BGT star Amanda after they targeted Phoebe Ruele in broad daylight and tried to steal jewellery.
In total, the 12 brazen crooks racked up 383 convictions between them, and were also caught on CCTV as they stole a £180,000 BBC camera used for the Oxford Cambridge boat race.
Give me your rings. I’m going to hurt your child and take him away
Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star John McFadyen – a dad himself – grabbed the terrified mum’s arm and said: “Give me your rings. I’m going to hurt your child and take him away.”
Jailing McFadyen at Kingston Crown Court, Judge Georgina Kent said it was an “exceptionally serious and shocking attempted robbery.”
McFadyen, from Feltham, West London, shot to fame on the Channel 4 show and later married Cheyenne Pidgely in a lavish gypsy white wedding on March 9, 2012.
Viewers were shocked after traveller McFadyen “grabbed” her on the TV show, pushing her up against a fence demanding she kiss him in a traditional gypsy courtship ritual.
LAVISH WEDDING
McFadyen later proposed with a diamond ring before they married when he was 17 and she was 16 at St. Peter’s Church, Hersham, Surrey.
Cheyenne wore a Swarovski crystal-studded white lace gown along with a glittering tiara in front of 200 guests.
She had ten bridesmaids in purple dresses who had four hairdressers and a make-up artist on the big day.
Following the wedding, Cheyenne was soon pregnant with their first child, a daughter, and said she was “over the moon”.
She told Closer magazine: “John can’t wait to have a daddy’s girl and I’m really looking forward to having a little princess.
“I’m going to buy her designer stuff like Louis Vuitton, Juicy Couture and Armani.”
TARGETED MUM AND TODDLER
But brutish McFadyen was yesterday caged for two years and eight months, after targeting Miss Reule as she walked hand in hand with her tot home from nursery.
The heartless crook and his accomplice, dressed in black and wearing crash helmets, were caught on CCTV as part of a four-man moped crew who pounced on the mum on June 21, 2018.
A group of hero scaffolders leapt from their lorry to chase the gang off.
Footage of the attempted raid went viral after being posted on social media by BGT star Amanda, who urged the public to “call 101 or 999 if u know these scumbags”.
Holden, 48, later tweeted to say she was “delighted” that the gang had been exposed.
She wrote: “Delighted about this! Let’s not forget the real heroes were the guys in the truck!”
John McFadyen grabbed hold of Ms Reule by the arm, as he did so John McFadyen demanded her rings and threatened to hurt her child
The judge said: “All four men were dressed in black motorbike clothing and black full face helmets.
“They were waiting for Miss Reule so they must have targeted her when they walked past her.
“It’s striking that the robbers were so confident that they targeted their victims in full public view.
“John McFadyen grabbed hold of Ms Reule by the arm, as he did so John McFadyen demanded her rings and threatened to hurt her child.
“He said, ‘give me your rings or I’m going to hurt your child and take him away’.
“As he said that he bent down as if to move towards the child.”
The judge added: “Ms Reule was terrified, she instinctively picked up her son and dragged him back towards the road – fortunately there were no cars in the vicinity at the time.”
She is now “afraid for her children’s safety when she takes them to and from school”, the judge added.
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The rowdy gang appeared in court wearing tracksuits and jeans and at one point John McFadyen took off his shirt.
McFadyen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob.
He was jailed for two years and eight months.
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