A Romanian fraudster, who used sleight-of-hand magic tricks so steal jewellery worth £24,000 fro under the noses of shopkeepers, has been jailed.
Mircea Rostas, 26, who has conviction for crimes abroad, began a theft spree within months of arriving in the UK in October last year.
He targeted eight small jewellery shops around the country with an accomplice, who is still at large, between January and April this year.
Mircea Rostas, 26, who has conviction for crimes abroad, began a theft spree within months of arriving in the UK in October last year
They got away with almost £24,000 in rings, bracelets and necklaces in less than four months by showing staff how they wanted them wrapped.
Gemma Gordon, prosecuting, said the pair would handle the items and then say they only had euros and leave a £10 deposit.
They would leave saying they were going to get the money changed but not return.
It was only when staff checked the bags or boxes believed to contain the proposed purchases that they realised the valuables were missing.
Rostas was jailed for 26 months. Shrewsbury Crown Court heard that none of the stolen jewellery had been recovered and his accomplice was still wanted.
Between January and April this year the pair hit stores in Bristol, Shrewsbury, Hereford, Durham, Newark, Ely near Cambridge and Oxford.
In almost every case the thefts were captured on CCTV but the pair evaded capture by putting distance between the shops.
Rostas was eventually identified from some of the security footage and he admitted theft.
He targeted eight small jewellery shops around the country with an accomplice, who is still at large, between January and April this year
They got away with almost £24,000 in rings, bracelets and necklaces in less than four months by showing staff how they wanted them wrapped
The court heard that came to the UK a year ago and lived with his wife and young child in Birmingham working for a car valeting company.
He has a fraud conviction in the Czech Republic in 2015 which he got a suspended sentence for and was also fined for shoplifting in Germany in June 2016.
Defending, Lisa Hancox said Rostas had shown remorse but was under pressure to repay loans he had taken out.
Judge Jonathan Gosling told Rostas: ‘It was planned and sophisticated and you were aware other jewellers would be tipped-off after each theft.
‘You were therefore prepared to travel across the country to steal where people would not be suspicious.’
They got away with almost £24,000 in rings, bracelets and necklaces in less than four months by showing staff how they wanted them wrapped
Bristol victim Teresa Tremlett, who owns East Street Jewellery with her husband Gary, said: ‘It really is a professional job.
‘We have had someone run out before, but never something like this.’
She said her staff didn’t even notice anything was wrong until the conmen had not returned the following morning – and they unwrapped the jewellery to find it missing.
She said: ‘We watched the footage for ages to try and work out what they had done. We have to take our hats off to them, because it is so hard to see.
‘It is very frustrating as we’re a small business and for us it pays our mortgage,’ she added.