London:
A jewel thief was jailed for more than 5 years in Britain on Wednesday for stealing millions of pounds worth of diamonds by switching them with pebbles in a daring sleight of hand.
Lulu Lakatos, 60, posed as a gem specialist beneath the alias “Anna” to acquire access to the jewels worth a total of £4.2 million ($5.8 million, 5. million euros).
She claimed she had been sent to appraise the gems by a wealthy Russian client ahead of swapping them for the worthless stones.
A jury at Southwark Crown Court in south London located her guilty of conspiracy to steal. The judge referred to as the heist “highly sophisticated and audacious”, involving “brazen deception”.
Prosecutors stated the theft of the seven diamonds — such as one worth £2.2 million — from a luxury family jewellers in London’s upmarket Mayfair district was the most significant heist of its type ever committed in Britain.
The true diamonds, which London police have stated had been stolen by Lakatos in cooperation with an international organised gang, have in no way been recovered in the wake of the March 2016 theft.
Romanian-born Lakatos, from the Saint-Brieuc area of northwest France, arrived in London a day ahead of the theft exactly where she met with two other members of the gang.
The trio then made a reconnaissance trip to Boodles’ jewellers on Bond Street in Mayfair.
On the day of the theft, the court heard Lakatos had examined and weighed the diamonds, wrapping them in tissue paper and putting them in boxes in a locked purse.
Security camera footage from the family firm’s basement showed the moment Lakatos switched the purse for a duplicate in her handbag applying what the court heard was “sleight of hand”.
The practised thief left the jewellers and switched the diamonds into the handbag of an unknown lady.
She then changed her garments in a pub toilet and made her escape for France on the Eurostar cross-Channel train service, significantly less than 3 hours just after committing the crime.
The conviction follows Lakatos’ arrest in France on a European arrest warrant.
She had 3 prior convictions for theft in France and was wanted in Switzerland for a related heist exactly where an envelope containing 400,000 euros was switched for a copy holding worthless paper.
In her defence at trial in London, Lakatos claimed she had been arrested in a case of mistaken identity and her younger sister — who died in a car or truck crash in October 2018 — had utilised a passport in her name to travel to Britain to commit the crime.
The two males who accompanied Lakatos, Christophe Stankovic and Mickael Jovanovic, had been jailed for 3 years and eight months just after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal.
A jewel thief was jailed for more than 5 years in Britain on Wednesday for stealing millions of pounds worth of diamonds by switching them with pebbles in a daring sleight of hand.
Lulu Lakatos, 60, posed as a gem specialist beneath the alias “Anna” to acquire access to the jewels worth a total of £4.2 million ($5.8 million, 5. million euros).
She claimed she had been sent to appraise the gems by a wealthy Russian client ahead of swapping them for the worthless stones.
A jury at Southwark Crown Court in south London located her guilty of conspiracy to steal. The judge referred to as the heist “highly sophisticated and audacious”, involving “brazen deception”.
Prosecutors stated the theft of the seven diamonds — such as one worth £2.2 million — from a luxury family jewellers in London’s upmarket Mayfair district was the most significant heist of its type ever committed in Britain.
The true diamonds, which London police have stated had been stolen by Lakatos in cooperation with an international organised gang, have in no way been recovered in the wake of the March 2016 theft.
Romanian-born Lakatos, from the Saint-Brieuc area of northwest France, arrived in London a day ahead of the theft exactly where she met with two other members of the gang.
The trio then made a reconnaissance trip to Boodles’ jewellers on Bond Street in Mayfair.
On the day of the theft, the court heard Lakatos had examined and weighed the diamonds, wrapping them in tissue paper and putting them in boxes in a locked purse.
Security camera footage from the family firm’s basement showed the moment Lakatos switched the purse for a duplicate in her handbag applying what the court heard was “sleight of hand”.
The practised thief left the jewellers and switched the diamonds into the handbag of an unknown lady.
She then changed her garments in a pub toilet and made her escape for France on the Eurostar cross-Channel train service, significantly less than 3 hours just after committing the crime.
The conviction follows Lakatos’ arrest in France on a European arrest warrant.
She had 3 prior convictions for theft in France and was wanted in Switzerland for a related heist exactly where an envelope containing 400,000 euros was switched for a copy holding worthless paper.
In her defence at trial in London, Lakatos claimed she had been arrested in a case of mistaken identity and her younger sister — who died in a car or truck crash in October 2018 — had utilised a passport in her name to travel to Britain to commit the crime.
The two males who accompanied Lakatos, Christophe Stankovic and Mickael Jovanovic, had been jailed for 3 years and eight months just after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal.
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