In a London jewelry robbery, a woman was found guilty of swapping diamonds for pebbles.

[Andrew Reeve]

 

A lady was found guilty of stealing millions of pounds worth of diamonds from a well-known London jeweller by a UK court.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court found Lulu Lakatos guilty of conspiracy to steal and sentenced her to five and a half years in jail.

In an ingenious robbery at a luxury boutique in London's posh Mayfair neighborhood in 2016, Lakatos covertly swapped seven pebbles for diamonds worth £4.2 million (€4.9 million).

Lakatos, who was born in Romania, was part of an international group who stole the diamonds from Boodles on New Bond Street and fled to France. The jewels have yet to be found.

 

The crooks spoke with Boodles employees in the days preceding up to the crime under the guise of representing a wealthy Russian investor looking to buy diamonds, according to authorities.

Latakos then pretended to be a gem expert named "Anna" who traveled to Boodles to value seven diamonds for the customer, according to the court.

 

The jewels were individually wrapped and placed in a secured bag after she had inspected the diamonds, which included a 20-carat heart-shaped rock valued at more than £2.2 million (€2.6 million).

The bag was X-rayed the next day after Boodles' own expert got suspicious, and the retailer uncovered nothing but "seven garden pebbles."

 

According to prosecutors and security camera footage, Latakos used "sleight of hand" and distraction to replace the diamond-filled bag with a similar one holding pebbles.

She had given the bag to a female accomplice after leaving Bootles before ditching her disguise and fleeing to France, where she lived.

Source: Euronews

 

 

 

 

 

[TobyAndrews]

Five and a half years in jail and she still has 4.2 million in diamonds.

She will be out in two years 8 months and still have the diamonds. British justice is a joke.

[Bluesofa]

The woman also tried to claim it was her sister who stole the diamonds, not her. The fact her sister had died two years earlier in 2019 didn't convince the jury.

 

[Dedinbed]

She had some front putting the pouch with the real gems in her bag in the first instance before then pulling the dummy one when the assistant called her out .. quite why the assistant didn't unzip the pouch at that point to check is odd .. and waiting 'till the next day to X-Ray it seems even stranger .. 

Edited July 29, 2021 by Dedinbed
Sp

[Bluesofa]

 

She had some front putting the pouch with the real gems in her bag in the first instance before then pulling the dummy one when the assistant called her out .. quite why the assistant didn't unzip the pouch at that point to check is odd .. and waiting 'till the next day to X-Ray it seems even stranger .. 

I follow what you're saying as to why the staff member didn't check the bag's contents.
I'm guessing, but if it was in the thief's handbag for, say, ten seconds then removed again, I can see it not occurring to the staff to open the bag. I know it should be a case of 'trust no one' at all.
A smooth scam operator like this one obvious managed to put the staff member's mind at ease, even though the thief successfully managed a switch.

[TobyAndrews]

I expected something better than this. I expected a magician's trick, however this clumsy trick worked, so that is all that mattered.

£2.2 million in diamonds, however that is only retail value I think, and Bond Street retail value also.

[KaptainRob]

 

The woman also tried to claim it was her sister who stole the diamonds, not her. The fact her sister had died two years earlier in 2019 didn't convince the jury.

Might've done in Ireland, not in London!

rob backs quietly out of the room

[longwood50]

 

The woman also tried to claim it was her sister who stole the diamonds, not her. The fact her sister had died two years earlier in 2019 didn't convince the jury.

Well she certainly didn't have a "Dream Team" as good as O.J. Simpson's.  Johhny Cochrane could have certainly convinced the right jury that the sister was reincarnated.