Man who stole gold jewellery worth £40,000 jailed

A man who stole £40,000 of gold jewellery from a Leicester shop has been jailed.

Banu Horobas, 38, was arrested at Luton airport 13 days after being involved in the distraction theft at a jewellery shop in Belgrave Road in February this year.

Yesterday (Wednesday), at Leicester Crown Court, he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment after previously pleading guilty to theft.

Horobas, of Linden Avenue, Birmingham, had travelled with a woman to the shop on 13 February this year. On entering the shop, Horobas had distracted the shop assistant by asking to try on bracelets and chains. He then asked the assistant to keep the tray on the side as he wanted to buy other jewellery.

The woman who was with him then took gold jewellery from the tray and put them in her coat pocket while Horabas continued to distract the assistant. The pair repeated this asking to look at further jewellery and for the trays to be left on the side before leaving the shop with the stolen items and without paying. They told the assistant they would be returning to the store as they needed to withdraw money from the bank.

The shop owner then noticed the items missing and CCTV footage showed the items being stolen. The items stolen were bracelets and chains which were valued at a total of £40,000.

The theft was reported to police and an investigation led to Horobas being arrested 13 days later on 26 February at Luton airport.

Investigations remain ongoing to locate the female suspect. The jewellery has not been recovered.

Officer in the case, Detective Constable Rosie Wood said: “This was a pre-planned crime with Horobas dishonestly taking full advantage of a trusting shop assistant to steal high value jewellery purely for greed. 

“Horobas’ guilty plea has ensured he has now faced responsibility for his actions. Our enquiries continue to now locate the female suspect involved.”