[luckyjimm]

Info about the £23m raid on the same store in 2005:

" R v. Denic
--------------------
Christian Khan acted for Mr Nebojsa Denic, whowas convicted at the Old Bailey in July 2004 of conspiracy to rob Graff's in Mayfair, in May 2002.

Mr Denic was found guilty of taking part in the UK's largest ever robbery, the theft of £23m of jewellery in London's West End. £20m worth of jewels is still missing.

It was just the latest in a whole series of gem shop hold ups the same gang had pulled off across Europe and even in Japan.

The Graff conspiracy involved three key players, all originally from the former Yugoslavia.

Nebojsa Denic, 33, and Milan Jovetic, 24, were convicted at the Old Bailey but a third man, known as "Marco", who was the alleged mastermind, remains at large.

Two days after they visited the shop, posing as clients, Marco and Jovetic bought a second hand Piaggio scooter from a man in Isleworth, west London.

On 20 May Denic, dressed in a smart suit and carrying an umbrella, walked into Graff and was allowed through the security door into the salesroom containing the jewellery showcases.

Staff remembered how they tried not to stare at the ridiculously large black wig he was wearing.

"I thought he was a rock star or had a disease," one saleswoman told the trial.

Denic asked to look at a 12 carat diamond ring worth £300,000 but said: "It's too big. Do you have a smaller one?".

At this point Marco was allowed into the store. Denic then reached inside his jacket and produced a .357 Magnum revolver, shouting "Get down, get down" to the staff.

In the next three minutes Marco broke into two cabinets and bundled the jewels into a drawstring bag before running out with Denic.

But security guard Simon Stearman ran after them and as he grappled Denic to the ground the gun went off - the bullet rebounding off a wall and hitting a passer-by a glancing blow on the nose.

Marco got away with the jewels but the subsequent police investigation led to Jovetic's flat.

There they found a single blue diamond worth £500,000 in a tub of baby cream - it was Jovetic's share from the robbery.

Jovetic later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob Graff and to handling stolen goods. All charges against Stankovic were dropped. Of the 47 items taken from Graff only 10% have been recovered. Some stones were discovered at a New York jewel grading house, sent from Tel Aviv. The remaining £20m worth of jewels have disappeared.

Detective Inspector Andy Dunn from the Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad led the police investigation.

He told the BBC: "This was a targeted operation. London is one of the biggest jewellery centres in Europe. But it's just one of a series of crimes committed by various East European crime gangs across Europe and possibly further afield. In Europe it's endemic."

Sentencing, Judge Gerald Gordon said the men had played for "high stakes".

He told Denic: "To achieve your ends you took with you a fully functional and loaded Magnum .357.

"Not surprisingly, your use of it succeeded in subduing staff who were terrified and have been, in different ways, markedly and perhaps permanently affected by what you did."

Denic was sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiracy to rob, six years for possessing a gun and seven years for using it to resist arrest - all to run concurrently.

'Remarkable courage'

Jovetic received a five-and-a-half year jail term for conspiracy to rob and three years for handling the ring, also to run concurrently.

The judge also recommended that Denic, who had arrived in the UK on a tourist visa, should be deported after completing his sentence.

Judge Gordon awarded £700 each from public funds to security guards Simon Stearman and Clinton Delo for their "remarkable courage" in aiding the arrest of Denic.

He also said £7,000 recovered from Jovetic's house should be shared between the two guards."