Former world boxing champion Amir Khan feared his "kids would grow up without their dad" during the gunpoint robbery of his £70,000 diamond-encrusted watch.

The 2004 Olympic silver medallist, 36, was targeted as he and his wife, Faryal Makhdoom, 31, left an east London restaurant last year.

The robbery lasted just seconds after the pair left the Sahara Grill restaurant in Leyton on April 18, 2022.

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A trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how he was forced to hand over his bespoke, rose gold, diamond-encrusted Franck Muller watch.

It was a gift following a boxing match, worth between £60,000 to £70,000.

Amir, who was a unified world champion at light-welterweight, previously told the court the robber pointed a gun in his face and said: "Take off the watch."

The Bolton-born boxer, who retired last year with a professional record of 34 wins from his 40 fights, has now opened up about the ordeal in an interview with the Sun on Sunday.

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He told the paper: "In that moment, you think the worst … that the kids could be growing up without their dad, that Faryal would be raising them on her own.

"Your life flashes before your eyes.

"I leant my head to the right because I thought, if he is going to shoot me, he can shoot the side of my head.

"I don’t want to see the bullet coming."

Gunman Dante Campbell, 20, of Hornsey, and getaway driver Ahmed Bana, 25, of Tottenham, admitted conspiracy to commit robbery and possession of an imitation firearm during a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

They will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.

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At Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, Ismail Mohamed, 24, of Edmonton, and Nurul Amin, 25, of Harringay, were unanimously acquitted by a jury of conspiracy to rob Mr Khan.

Prosecutors had claimed Mohamed and Amin acted as "spotters", dining in the restaurant to keep track of Mr Khan’s movements and relay them by phone to Bana.

Mr Khan, who has been confirmed for the upcoming I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! all-stars ITV series in South Africa, told the Sun on Sunday: "People said after: 'You should’ve fought them'. Are they stupid?

"I’ve got a family. It’s only a watch. My life means more to me.

"When you have kids, you have a priority to make sure they are looked after. I am the breadwinner for the family.

"If I was with the kids, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Maybe I would have panicked and tried to run."

Mr Khan said he had been shopping in the Knightsbridge area while his influencer wife was doing a photoshoot, before the couple ate dinner with his friend Omar Khalid, breaking the Ramadan fast.

Reporting by PA.