It was the most expensive diamond robbery in Britain. A woman had stolen seven jewels with a value of almost 5 million euros. But the whole thing was exposed. Now she has been sentenced.
London – A woman in London swiftly exchanged diamonds worth millions for pebbles – a British court has now sentenced the 60-year-old to five and a half years in prison for theft.
The court saw it as proven on Wednesday that the woman took the seven gemstones worth 4.2 million pounds (just under 5 million euros) in an unobserved moment in a jewelry store. It was the most expensive jewelery theft in British history.
The diamonds, the most valuable of which alone is valued at £ 2.2 million, have not surfaced since the 2016 crime. The 60-year-old belonged to a gang of thieves. She posed as “Anna”, a diamond expert, who allegedly visited the jewelry store on New Bond Street on behalf of wealthy Russians.
The diamonds should actually be kept in a padlocked purse in a safe until the alleged buyer transfers the money. But when the container was opened the next day, there were only – pebbles.
The jeweler’s diamond expert was suspicious, but a search of “Anna” s handbag did not find the gemstones. Presumably the precious items were hidden in a secret compartment. “Anna” later gave the diamonds to an unknown accomplice and a few hours later traveled by train to Paris.
The 60-year-old had blamed the act of her sister, who died in 2019, who stole her passport and was wanted in Switzerland for a similar theft. There, an envelope with 400,000 euros was exchanged for one with paper strips at lightning speed.
But the court now found the relevant 60-year-old guilty. Two accomplices had previously been sentenced to three years and eight months in prison. dpa
