Ocean’s Eleven-style gang member who stole £4m gems from Mayfair jewellers jailed for four years

A gang member who stole £4million worth of gems from a Mayfair jewellers in one of the biggest shoplifting thefts in British criminal history has been jailed for nearly four years.

Mickael Jovanovic was part of a crack team who tricked staff at Boodles into handing over precious jewels then used sleight of hand to swap the diamonds for pebbles.

The 27-year-old and his accomplices then fled to their native France within hours of the heist in 2016, and evaded capture until this year.

Following an international manhunt, Jovanovic was extradited from Italy and arrested in January and charged the same day with conspiracy to steal.

Police likened the ‘truly audacious crime’ to daring thefts portrayed in Hollywood movies.

Mickael Jovanovic was part of a crack team of criminals who tricked staff at Boodles into handing over £4million worth of jewels. The 27-year-old, from Le Blanc-Mesnil in France, was jailed for three years and eight months

A Boodles director was invited to a meeting in Monaco in March 2016 by members of the group posing as Russian businessmen, who struck a deal to buy seven diamonds – including a heart-shaped jewel worth £2.2m.

Boodles received a phone call stating that the buyers’ representative, a gemmologist named ‘Anna’, would be attending the Mayfair shop under the pretence of appraising the diamonds. 

Boodles’ gemmologist Emma Barton met with ‘Anna’ who was taken to the basement of the jewellery store for a viewing on March 10.

Prosecutor Philip Stott told Southwark Crown Court how ‘Anna’ entered Boodles to view the diamonds and waited for a diversional telephone call from one of her accomplices.

She swapped the gems for pebbles and slipped the stones into pre-cut tissue paper, placing them inside opaque boxes she had brought with her.

The padlocked bag containing the ‘diamonds’ was then returned to the safe. 

After leaving the shop, Anna met up with her associates on the street and handed the diamonds over before the group split up.

Within three hours of the theft, they had all returned to France either by train or car.

The following day, the Boodles director spoke with the fake buyer, who confirmed the money would be transferred.

But suspicious staff x-rayed the bag then opened it to discover they had been left with pebbles, the court heard.

Jovanovic and another man, Christophe Stankovic, had carried out surveillance on Boodles and were loitering nearby on the day of the theft.

Two women had acted as lookouts for ‘Anna’ while a third woman was standing by with a change of clothes at a pub near Victoria Station.

Mr Stott said the 2016 theft was ‘of the highest possible sophistication, planning, risk, and reward’, adding it is thought to be the largest value single incident of shoplifting in British criminal history. 

Flying Squad detectives launched an investigation and retraced the group’s movements across London as they plotted the heist.

The gang had used minicabs in a bid to hide their movements but their departure from the country was quickly established.

Their images were circulated to other police forces before Jovanovic was extradited from Italy in January and arrested. He was charged the same day and admitted conspiracy to steal.

Jovanovic, of Le Blanc-Mesnil, a suburb in north eastern Paris, was jailed for three years and eight months’ imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court.

Stankovic was caught and jailed in 2016.

A Boodles director was invited to a meeting in Monaco in March 2016 by members of the group posing as Russian businessmen, who struck a deal to buy seven diamonds - including a heart-shaped jewel worth £2.2m

A Boodles director was invited to a meeting in Monaco in March 2016 by members of the group posing as Russian businessmen, who struck a deal to buy seven diamonds – including a heart-shaped jewel worth £2.2m

Detective Constable William Man said: ‘This was a well organised theft which evolved over a number of weeks both in London and on the continent

‘Like the plot of a film, this was a truly audacious crime. They stole the diamonds and fled in a matter of hours. However, they left behind a trail of evidence which led us to where they were staying, and the Citroen they had hired in Paris.

‘As a result of piecing together all of the bits of information, we knew it was only a matter of time before arrests were made.

‘And whilst it has taken four years, this case does highlight that we won’t give up. We still remain determined to identify all of those involved.’