Rimantas Borisovas, 32, led a gang that raided the Queen's jewellers Mappin And Webb
A Lithuanian who flew into Britain to hold out an armed theft has been jailed after traces of his blood have been matched to crime scenes throughout Europe.
Rimantas Borisovas, 32, led a gang that raided the Queen's jewellers Mappin And Webb armed with a handgun and claw hammers – months after he had been launched from a German jail.
Detectives suspect they could have exploited freedom of motion guidelines and low-cost flights to slide out and in of the UK for different smash-and-grab raids.
Borisovas escaped to Poland 24 hours after the jewelry heist – spending lower than 96 hours in Britain.
Within the 60-second raid, the gang took a stash of Cartier watches price greater than £125,000, which have by no means been discovered.
However final week Borisovas, who police imagine is a part of a significant legal gang from Jap Europe, was dropped at justice after police matched blood he left on the scene of the 2014 raid to offences carried out in Germany and Lithuania. When Borisovas flew into the UK for the primary time, he had simply been launched early from a five-year sentence in Germany for stealing 13 BMWs.
He was deported to his homeland in 2013, then arrived in Britain on December 23 that yr on a flight to Luton. Police imagine the two-week journey might have been to hold out reconnaissance and even one other theft earlier than the Mappin And Webb raid six months later.
Within the 60-second raid, the gang took a stash of Cartier watches price greater than £125,000, which have by no means been discovered
On June 10, 2014, Borisovas, whose flights have been all with Ryanair, flew into Stansted and fewer than 48 hours later his gang smashed their approach into the Regent Avenue jewellers – the official silversmith to the Queen.
One of many males – sporting a disguise of make-up and a curly blond wig – was invited into the shop by the safety guard. As soon as inside he pulled out a handgun and Borisovas and one other man – sporting hooded tops, caps and overlaying their faces – burst in with claw hammers.
Borisovas took 20 Cartier watches price £128,740 after smashing a show case with a hammer, slicing himself within the course of and leaving smears of blood. The robbers, who have been within the store for lower than a minute, fled in numerous instructions.
One dashed into a close-by pub to ditch his wig and alter into sportswear earlier than going to Waterloo, the place he dumped the imitation handgun.
Police haven't been in a position to hint Borisovas's accomplices, however they know he flew out of Stansted the subsequent day to Poland, touchdown in a metropolis near the Lithuanian border.
Borisovas took 20 Cartier watches price £128,740 after smashing a show case with a hammer, slicing himself within the course of and leaving smears of blood
Scotland Yard's Flying Squad requested Europol for assist tracing the gang and located the blood left on the scene matched a profile on the German police's DNA database for a Lithuanian automobile thief imprisoned in Germany for 13 theft offences in 2011. Additionally they discovered that Borisovas had been convicted of a doc fraud in 2016.
He was placed on a border watchlist nevertheless it was not till he flew into Stansted from Gdansk, Poland, on November 17 final yr that he was caught.
The robber, who's fluent in a number of languages, refused to talk to officers in custody.
However inside 12 hours forensics had matched Borisovas to the blood left on the crime scene.
In December he admitted theft and possession of a firearm and final week he was jailed for 12 years at Kingston Crown Courtroom.
Detective Sergeant Ben Kennedy, of the Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad, mentioned: 'We imagine he's a part of a Pink Panther-type gang which were in a position to go throughout nation borders to focus on high-end jewellers.
'We expect it was extremely organised and so they have exploited freedom-of-movement guidelines to fly into the nation to commit crime and fly out very simply. They may have dedicated different offences right here.
'The Met labored with European legislation enforcement companions to convey him to justice and I'm happy that the prolonged custodial sentence the decide handed down displays the seriousness of the crime.'
Based on Interpol, the Pink Panther gang has stolen jewels price greater than £280million in 380 armed robberies between 1999 and 2015.
Made up of 200 ex-military personnel who're primarily from the Balkan states, the gang acquired its nickname after a 2003 theft in London when a thief hid a diamond in a pot of magnificence cream – much like the plot of one of many Pink Panther movies starring Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau.
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