By ANDREW LEVY
Two Romanian crime tourists who struck at jewellers around Europe have been jailed after they were caught in the UK.
Married Vadar-Ghimes and Zinca Agafitei, both 46, were arrested after taking ten gold chains worth £15,000 from a jeweller’s in Norfolk.
Enquiries revealed they had swiped jewellery worth another £48,000 from other locations around the Midlands and southern England in just a few weeks – after being allowed into the country despite a ‘similar’ spree of distraction thefts and burglaries, mainly at small, independent businesses in Italy, Malta, Turkey and Germany.
They have now been jailed for 27 months each after admitting three charges of burglary and two of theft. Vadar-Ghimes also admitted a fraud charge.
Prosecutor Chris Youell told Norwich Crown Court: ‘What these two people have done is travel around England targeting jewellers and carried out distraction thefts and burglaries.’
There was a ‘significant degree of planning’ to the offences ‘targeting high-value jewellers’, he added.
The couple were arrested after striking at The Gold Shop in Thetford, Norfolk, on July 29.
Earlier that month, they took £26,000 worth of bracelets from a jewellery store in Wiltshire, following the theft of a gold bracelet worth £2,280 in East Sussex in June and an £11,500 watch from a Warwick shop in May.
Vadar-Ghimes Agafitei was jailed for 27 months by Norwich Crown Court for his part in a spate of jewellery heists
Zinca Agafitei was also jailed for 27 months by Norwich Crown Court for her role in the heists with her husband
They had also taken a bank card from a woman in Newmarket, Suffolk, in July, which Vadar-Ghimes used to withdraw £700.
The pair, who had been living in Penge, south east London, spoke through an interpreter at earlier court hearings.
Sentencing them on Monday, Judge Timothy Clayson said they had targeted ‘small jewellers across the midlands and southern England’, causing a ‘substantial impact on owners and staff’.
Andrew Oliver, representing Vadar-Ghimes, admitted there was an element of ‘professionalism’ about his client’s offences and his main mitigation was his guilty pleas.
The defendant had only been in the country for a few months, he said, and had been unable to find work because he didn’t have a visa.
Ian James, for Zinca, said she was ‘very much aware of the seriousness’ of her crimes and she had ‘learnt her lesson’.
The Times of Malta reported how Vadar-Ghimes and two Romanian accomplices were given two-year suspended jail terms in 2010 after admitting shoplifting 7,000 Euros (£5,800) worth of goods from a string of jewellers on the island. All the items were recovered.
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Romanian crime tourists swiped £63k of jewellery in shoplifting spree after being allowed into Britain despite Europe-wide rampage
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Publish date : 2024-12-18 05:53:00
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