A woman has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for stealing diamonds worth £4.2 million from luxury jewellers Boodles in Mayfair, London, in a heist described as the highest-value theft of its kind in the UK.
Lulu Lakatos, 60, posed as a gem expert named 'Anna' to value the stones on behalf of supposed wealthy Russian buyers in March 2016. CCTV footage captured her swapping a padlocked purse containing seven diamonds, including one worth £2.2 million, for a duplicate using sleight of hand while the store chairman was on the phone.
The diamonds were placed in a purse that was put into Lakatos's handbag and later switched to an unknown woman's bag. The gang fled to France within three hours. When the purse in Boodles' safe was opened the next day, it contained seven small garden pebbles. The diamonds have never been recovered.
Lakatos claimed her late sister, Liliana Lakatos, was the real culprit, but she was found guilty of conspiracy to steal at Southwark Crown Court. She has three previous theft convictions in France.
