London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 09, 2025

Woman ‘stole diamonds worth £4.2m by swapping them for pebbles’

Woman ‘stole diamonds worth £4.2m by swapping them for pebbles’

Court told Lulu Lakatos posed as gem expert to steal seven diamonds from Boodles in Mayfair, London
A woman stole diamonds worth £4.2m from a luxury London jewellers’ by posing as a gem expert and swapping them for garden pebbles in a highly sophisticated heist, a court has heard.

Lulu Lakatos allegedly posed as a gemologist and pretended to examine and value seven diamonds at the Boodles showroom on New Bond Street in Mayfair, central London.

The jewels were placed in a locked purse and were to be held in the jewellers’ vault awaiting payment. But when the bag was opened, after Boodles’ own diamond expert became suspicious, inside were seven small pebbles, Southwark crown court heard.

“The diamonds had been stolen by the defendant by sleight of hand,” said the prosecutor, Philip Stott. “The conspiracy in which she is alleged to have played an integral and central part was one of the highest possible sophistication, planning, risk and reward.”

Lakatos, 60, who was born in Romania but lived in France, denies conspiracy to steal on or before 10 March 2016.

In February 2016, the court was told, Boodles chairman Nicholas Wainwright, 73, was introduced to an Israeli man called “Simon Glas” who claimed he was interested in buying high-value diamonds as an investment.

The pair met in Monaco a month later, where Wainwright was introduced to Glas’s purported business partner, a Russian called “Alexander”, and the sale of seven high-value diamonds was agreed after further discussions.

Lakatos was allegedly the woman who posed as a jewellery valuer, “Anna”, sent to visit Boodles to examine the stones on 10 March, the court was told.

She was escorted by Wainwright into the jewellers’ basement meeting room along with the family firm’s own gemologist, Emma Barton. The court heard Lakatos examined and weighed the diamonds before individually wrapping them in pre-cut tissue paper and placing them inside opaque boxes, which were put into a zippable purse-like bag which was then padlocked shut.

It is alleged that Lakatos then placed the locked purse inside her own handbag when Wainwright went upstairs to take a phone call from the purported Russian buyer. Barton told her to put the bag back on the table.

“It seems what happened was it was swapped for an identical locked bag and that duplicate bag was placed back on the table,” said Stott.

Wainwright asked to examine the handbag and “reassured himself that the bag was relatively empty with nothing unusual in it,” the court was told, and Lakatos left the store.

Two other women, who had been waiting inside a nearby shop, walked alongside her as she was seen placing a purse-like object in one of their handbags, the court heard.

Stott said Lakatos, from the Saint-Brieuc region of north-western France, changed her clothes in a public toilet before leaving London on the Eurostar using her own passport.

A female accomplice accompanied her on the train while two male and two female members of the group travelled together through the Channel tunnel in a rented car, the jury heard.

The following day, Boodles arranged for the locked bag to be X-rayed, which revealed diamond-like stones were inside, but staff remained suspicious so opened the purse. “Inside each of the opaque boxes was a small pebble instead of a diamond,” Stott said.

The stolen gems, worth a total of £4.2m, include a 20 carat heart-shaped diamond valued at more than £2.2m and a £1.1m three carat pear-shaped fancy pink diamond.

Two of the group members, Christophe Stankovic and Mickael Jovanovic, have already been convicted of conspiracy to steal over the theft, jurors were told.

Lakatos was arrested in France on a European arrest warrant in September last year before being extradited to the UK.

The trial continues.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Political Dispute Escalates Between Trump and Musk
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
US Senate Votes to Remove AI Regulation Moratorium from Domestic Policy Bill
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
Jury Deliberations in Diddy Trial Yield Partial Verdict in Serious Criminal Charges
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×