Conwoman, 60, accused of swapping £4.2m worth of diamonds for pebbles in Mayfair jeweller Boodles blamed theft on her dead sister after both of their DNA was found on stolen gems, court hears
- Lulu Lakatos alleged to have stolen seven stones from Mayfair jeweller in 2016
- She posed as a gemologist called 'Anna' working for a wealthy Russian buyer
- A DNA mix-up with sister is complicating case, Southwark Crown Court heard
A woman accused of swapping diamonds for pebbles in a £4.2 million heist has blamed the theft on her late sister, a court heard today.
Lulu Lakatos, 60, claims it was Liliana Lakatos who posed as gem expert 'Anna' to switch a padlocked purse containing the precious stones for an identical duplicate at a luxury Mayfair jewellers.
Anna was sent to examine seven diamonds on behalf of a group posing as wealthy Russian buyers following a lunch meeting at Monaco's Hotel Metropole with Boodles boss Nicholas Wainwright.
Lulu Lakatos, 60, was charged with conspiracy to steal over the 2016 theft from the family-owned luxury jeweller (pictured) in Mayfair after she was extradited from France last year
The gems were to be placed in a padlocked purse and held in the jewellers' vault until funds were transferred.
But CCTV footage from the family firm's New Bond Street basement showroom captured the moment the purse was put into Anna's handbag and switched, while Mr Wainwright was on the phone to Russian buyer 'Alexander'.
When the bag was opened after Boodles' own diamond expert, Emma Barton, became suspicious, inside were seven small garden pebbles, the court has heard.
Prosecutors claim the fake gemmologist Anna was Lakatos, who denies conspiracy to steal on or before March 10 2016 at Southwark Crown Court, where she is standing trial.
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But defence barrister Ioana Nedelcu said today: 'The defence raised a defence of identity and stated the person on the camera is Liliana Lakatos, her sister.'
The court heard Ms Barton picked out Liliana, who had a string of convictions for theft and was wanted in Switzerland for theft and fraud, as the person who stole the diamonds in an identification procedure.
Finger marks left on the glass table in the Boodles showroom could not be matched to Lulu Lakatos's prints, while a mixed DNA profile was recovered from the pebbles which could not exclude either sister from contributing to it, jurors were told.
Lakatos is on trial at Southwark Crown Court, where the trial continues
Prosecutor Philip Stott told jurors an expert opined the findings provide 'very strong support' for the theory that some of the DNA had originated from Lakatos.
Giving evidence through a French interpreter, Romanian-born Lakatos said her younger sister had lived with her in an apartment in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, but had died in a car crash, aged 49, in Romania in October 2019.
'She had an accident and passed away,' she said before being shown a death certificate.
The court heard Lakatos has three previous convictions for theft in France up to 2006 but the defendant said she changed her ways finding work in schools, canteens and as a cleaner.
'I went through a difficult time financially. I know it's wrong to do it,' she told jurors.
'I have stopped because I was too scared to carry on with my life like this, so I tried to find other means.'
The trial continues.
