The trial began on Tuesday 20 July 2021 of Lulu Lakatos for the ‘daring and sophisticated’ theft of seven diamonds worth a total of £4.2m from Boodle’s jewellers, New Bond Street, Mayfair, on 10 March 2016. It is alleged that Ms Lakatos, posing as a gemmologist, stole the diamonds by sleight-of-hand by replacing them with seven small pebbles whilst purportedly valuing them on behalf of wealthy Russian buyers. Ms Lakatos has been extradited from France to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court: she denies the offence, claiming that the real thief was in fact her (now deceased) sister.
Philip Stott is instructed to prosecute the case, instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Philip Stott