London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Diamond thief must pay back £244 after record £4.2m heist

Diamond thief must pay back £244 after record £4.2m heist

Lulu Lakatos stole from Mayfair jeweller by replacing gems with pebbles in UK’s most expensive theft of its kind

A woman who stole £4.2m worth of diamonds by swapping them for pebbles has been ordered to pay back less than £250.

Lulu Lakatos, 60, is serving a five-and-a-half year jail sentence after she was found guilty of conspiracy to steal in 2021.

Lulu Lakatos, in a photo issued by the Metropolitan police.


Southwark crown court heard she posed as “Anna”, a gem expert, in order to steal seven stones from the Mayfair jewellers Boodles, after being sent to value them on behalf of supposed wealthy buyers.

The diamonds were to be placed in a padlocked purse and held in the store’s vault until funds were transferred.

CCTV footage from the firm’s basement showed the moment the purse was put into Lakatos’s handbag and switched for a duplicate by an accomplice in 2016.

Less than three hours after the switch, Lakatos and her accomplices fled the UK for France.

When the purse in the Boodles safe was opened the following day, inside were seven small garden pebbles. The real diamonds have never been recovered.

A proceeds of crime hearing on Friday was told Romanian-born Lakatos, from Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, is expected to be extradited back to France.

Judge Alexander Milne QC said: “As far as the figures are concerned, there is a striking contrast between the benefit figure of £4,299,671 and the available assets of €293.57[£244].”

Image from CCTV grab of Lulu Lakatos inside Boodles jewellers.


Since the money has already been seized, he set a one-day default sentence with a month to pay.

Christophe Stankovic and Mickael Jovanovic, who were involved in the plot, were jailed for three years and eight months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal.

Prosecutors said it was the highest-value theft of its kind ever committed in the UK.

Lakatos was wanted in Switzerland for an almost identical plot, where an envelope containing €400,000 was switched for a duplicate filled with paper.

Lakatos has three previous convictions for theft in France. She arrived in London the day before the theft and was seen on CCTV with Georgeta Danila, 53, entering the Cricklewood Lodge hotel in London, before making a reconnaissance trip to Boodles with Stankovic and Jovanovic. Danila was acquitted after telling a jury she had no idea she had been involved in the crime.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×