Pair jailed over city centre jewellery shop raid
Christi Grigore, left, and Gheorghe Tagarici both denied their part in the burglary
- Published
Two men have been jailed over the theft of around £180,000 of jewellery from a Nottingham shop.
A gang broke into Levins Fine Jewellery, in Upper Parliament Street, in the early hours of 4 February from a neighbouring property.
The intruders disabled the shop's CCTV and alarms and took more than 600 items.
At Nottingham Crown Court, Christi Grigore 40, and Gheorghe Tagarici, 45, denied conspiring to commit a burglary but were jailed for two years and six months and two years and three months respectively.
Officers had to go through hours of CCTV from surrounding areas
Police said the intruders gained access to the store via an unoccupied premises above.
Despite returning several times during the eight-hour raid, the gang did not gain access to a safe in the basement.
But 615 pieces of jewellery with a wholesale value of £180,000 were taken, officers said.
The burglary was only discovered when staff arrived in the morning.
Raids on suspects' homes provided clues like images of missing rings on a mobile phone
Despite leaving no DNA or fingerprints, police said they studied hours of CCTV from surrounding streets to identify the suspects.
Subsequent raids on properties by police led to more incriminating evidence being seized, including mobile phone images of some jewellery.
This led to Grigore, of Rosetta Road, Basford, Nottingham and Tagarici, of Sandhurst Road, Bedford, being arrested.
A third defendant, Paulina Popa, 54, of Talbot Road, Luton, received a conditional discharged for 18 months after pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods.
None of the stolen items have been recovered.
Det Cons Ben Grayson said: “With no CCTV footage capturing the burglary, no eyewitnesses, and no forensic evidence from the outset, it was always going to be a challenge to catch up with the people responsible.
“Ultimately though, hundreds of hours of inquiries – including meticulous reviews of phone data and painstaking CCTV analysis – resulted in a number of suspects being identified."
A Proceeds of Crime Hearing will take place next year, police said.
Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, external, on X, external, or on Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk, external or via WhatsApp, external on 0808 100 2210.