Imprisoned: A man charged with stealing around half a million pounds worth of jewellery, including a £20,000 heist form a Lincoln jewellers, has been sentenced to five years in prison at Lincoln Crown Court.
A Doncaster man charged with stealing around half a million pounds worth of jewellery, including a heist form a Lincoln jewellers, has been sentences to five years in prison.
David Sydney Stephenson (37) was charged with seven offences across Lincolnshire, including the theft of a £20,000 necklace from James Usher & Son Jewellers in Lincoln on September 11.
He would ask to see rings in display cabinets, usually on low shelves, and as the assistant bent down to reach them, Stephenson would lean over and steal items on higher shelves.
He would still pretend to be interested in buying items, then leave the store claiming he needed to ask his wife about making a purchase.
CCTV images were circulated through Safer Gems, an initiative set up to stop crime in the jewellery trade.
Because of the initiative, Stephenson was spotted in a shop in Birmingham. He was shortly arrested, with three diamond rings in his pocket.
Lincolnshire Police led the investigation, where his thefts amount to just under half a million pounds.
He pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to five year and three months in prison at Lincoln Crown Court.
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