The Woman Who Stole £4,200,000 In Diamonds Ordered To Pay Back £250

The diamonds she was looking at were intended to be placed in a padlocked handbag and kept in the vault of the New Bond Street store until funds were transferred.

CCTV footage from the family firm's basement showroom, on the other hand, recorded Lakatos dropping the purse into her handbag and quickly replacing it with a duplicate.

Boodles boss Nicholas Wainwright had taken a break from Lakatos to talk on the phone with 'Alexander,' an apparent Russian buyer whom he had met over lunch at the Hotel Metropole in Monaco.

Credit: Crown Prosecution Service

Although Emma Barton, the jewelers' diamond expert, raised some suspicions, the diamonds, which were assumed to be hidden in a secret compartment, were not discovered when Lakatos' suitcase was checked.

Lakatos and her criminal colleagues escaped the nation, traveling to France, with the priceless stones in their possession.

The theft was discovered the next day when the purse in Boodles' safe was opened and just a few stones were found inside.

Credit: PA

The diamonds were never found, and the crime is said to be the most costly ever perpetrated in the United Kingdom.

After being apprehended by the authorities, Lakatos, who was born in Romania, was found guilty of conspiracy to steal by a jury at Southwark Crown Court on or before March 10, 2016, by a majority of ten.

During the trial, Lakatos claimed that Anna was her younger sister, Liliana Lakatos, who admitted to using Lulu Lakatos' passport to conduct the crime months before she died in a vehicle accident in Romania in October 2019 at the age of 49.

Credit: PA

Sentencing Lakatos to five-and-a-half years in prison, Judge Emma Goodall QC said: "You have been convicted of conspiring to steal diamonds, the jury having rejected your defense it was your deceased sister and not you who perpetrated the offense.”

"This was a highly sophisticated and audacious offense in terms of planning, risk, and reward, an offense in respect of which you played an integral role.”

"You spent almost an hour in the Boodles London showroom exploiting their trust, which allowed you to engage in a brazen deception, and through sleight of the hand you stole seven diamonds valued at £4.2 million."

Last week, Lakatos was ordered to pay £245, which was taken when she was arrested, at proceeds of crime hearing at Southwark Crown Court.

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 euros and 57 cents."

Judge Milne imposed a one-day default sentence and a month to pay because the money had already been confiscated.

Lakatos is anticipated to be deported to France, according to sources, where she has a history of theft convictions.