Former boxing world champion Amir Khan tells jury staring down the barrel of robber's gun scarier than any fight

Former boxing world champion Amir Khan has told a court how looking down the barrel of a gun as he was robbed of his £70,000 watch was scarier than any of his fights.

The Bolton-born 2004 Olympic silver medallist, 36, said his wife, Faryal Makhdoom, 31, was 'screaming and crying' when he was targeted as they left the Sahara Grill Restaurant in Leyton, east London, on April 18 last year. A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court has heard how he was forced to hand over his bespoke, rose gold, diamond-encrusted Franck Muller watch, a gift following a boxing match, worth between £60,000 to £70,000, by gunman Dante Campbell, 20.

Mr Khan, who was a unified world champion at light-welterweight, said the robber pointed a gun in his face and said: "Take off the watch." Campbell has admitted two charges he faced, but three other men deny charges of conspiracy to rob.

The ex-boxer, who retired last year with a professional record of 34 wins from his 40 fights, told a jury: “(I was) really scared. I have got three kids, my wife was next to me as well. I'm a sportsman, I'm a fighter. I have always been put in the toughest situations when I go into the ring and fight someone, but this was totally different, very, very scary."

Asked how close the robber was to him, Mr Khan, who currently lives in Dubai, said: "Very close. He was really close. I remember the gun – a foot from my face. I remember looking right into the barrel there, looking into the gun barrel."

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.

"I spent about an hour in the restaurant," he said. "Everything seemed nice and calm. I