Latest news with #jewels
Sky News
3 days ago
- Business
- Sky News
Sledgehammer-wielding burglar used smoke grenades in attempted jewellery heist at Claridge's
A sledgehammer-wielding burglar who used smoke grenades in an attempt to steal jewels worth £190,000 from Claridge's Hotel in London has been jailed. Jay McGinty, 37, pulled the pins out of the smoke grenades after arriving at the Mayfair hotel riding pillion on a Vespa scooter in March last year, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. CCTV showed McGinty, of no fixed abode, entering Claridge's through the revolving doors at the side entrance on Davies Street and placing the smoking grenades in the hallway. He then used a sledgehammer to smash a display case containing several jewellery items as dark smoke billowed out around him. McGinty, who was wearing a balaclava and a crash helmet, was later detained by hotel security staff, who waited with him until police arrived. He was sentenced to six years' imprisonment on Thursday after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary at Southwark Crown Court, the CPS said. Monica Oluwole, senior crown prosecutor at the CPS, said: "Jay McGinty tried to use a smokescreen to cover his brazen attempt to steal highly valued items of jewellery. "He was caught red-handed thanks to the quick actions of the hotel security and staff who prevented him from escaping and called the police. "This heist, although it had all the hallmarks of planning and reconnaissance work, didn't work, and we were able to make sure he was brought to justice."
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Forbes
Paris Court Finds 8 Guilty In Kim Kardashian Robbery Trial
A Paris court on Friday found eight of 10 defendants guilty of helping carry out the 2016 robbery of billionaire reality television star Kim Kardashian, more than a week after Kardashian told the court she thought she was 'going to die' as the robbers stole about $9 million in jewels. Kardashian was robbed in 2016 during Paris Fashion Week. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/GC Images) This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Kim Kardashian pleaded for her life during Paris robbery, her stylist tells court
The night armed robbers tied up Kim Kardashian and forced her to hand over jewels worth millions of dollars left her traumatised and changed her life for ever, her best friend and fashion stylist told a Paris court. Speaking for the first time since the 2016 attack in Paris, Simone Harouche said she thought the American TV star was being raped and that they would both die when she was woken from her sleep in the early hours by the sound of Kardashian's terrified screams. Harouche, 45, hid in her bathroom and tried to raise the alarm when the men broke into their luxury hotel duplex in the early hours. 'I've worked for Kim, I have also been friends with Kim for a long time. I know her very well, I know her sounds, her mannerisms, when she's happy, when she's more serious. We've been friends since we were little girls,' she said. 'So when I heard this sound it was very different and it woke me up out of my sleep because it was sound that I had never heard from Kim. It was terror. What I heard specifically: 'I have babies and I need to live,' this is what she kept saying. 'Take everything – I need to live'.' Harouche was in tears at one point as she testified that she feared she would never see her children, then aged two and four, again. 'I thought they were coming for me next and I was very afraid of what was happening to my friend upstairs. I had no idea what was going on and I was scared she was being raped or violated. I thought the worst.' Harouche said Kardashian, whose ankles had been taped, came hopping down the stairs of the two-storey apartment to find her after the gunmen left with an estimated $10m (£7.5m) jewellery including the 18.9-carat diamond engagement ring from Kardashian's then husband, rapper Kanye West, worth an estimated $4m (£3m). 'That's the kind of person Kim is and I'm the sort of person to hide. She's the sort of person to take care of someone,' she told the court. She added: 'To see my friend with her feet taped and her bathrobe, a very light robe with nothing under it, all messed up and pulled I obviously thought she could have been raped or very violated. She was beside herself; I've never seen her like this before. She just was screaming and kept saying: 'We need to get out of here. We need help. What are we going to do if they come back? We may need to jump out the window or hide in the first floor' … She was just thinking: 'How are we going to be safe? How are we going to survive'?' She said both women had had post-traumatic stress disorder and that Kardashian had suffered a life-changing loss of personal freedom. 'She was very free at the time and we never thought being in our hotel room meant that we should ever fear for our safety.' She added: 'I think she went to therapy for a long time also after this happened.' Asked whether Kardashian had taken risks by flaunting her wealth and whereabouts on social media, she said: 'Just because a woman wears jewellery that doesn't make her a target. That's like saying because a woman wears a short skirt that she deserves to be raped. 'I work with a lot of celebrities and none of my clients feels they shouldn't wear something because they might be robbed. That's part of the business of entertainment.' A group of men, some of them elderly and nicknamed the 'grandpa robbers' by French media, are on trial in Paris, charged with robbing jewels worth millions of euros from the American reality TV star when she was in the French capital for fashion week in 2016. Ten suspects, whose ages range from 35 to 78, are on trial until 23 May. Some are accused of aiding in the organisation of the robbery. Eight of the accused deny any involvement. Kardashian is expected at the trial on Tuesday afternoon. The reality star is ready to 'confront' her attackers, her lawyers said last week. 'She is committed to attending in person the trial and to confronting those who attacked her. She will do so with dignity and courage,' her French lawyers Leonor Hennerick and Jonathan Mattout told AFP.
Washington Post
07-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Sotheby's postpones auction of jewels associated with Buddha after backlash from India's government
HONG KONG — Sotheby's on Wednesday postponed an auction of jewels associated with Buddha's remains after the Indian government opposed the sale and demanded it be halted. The gems for auction were found buried together in reliquaries with the corporeal relics of the historical Buddha and discovered in northern India in 1898, the auction house said. They dated back to around 240-200 BC, it said.
The Guardian
07-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Piprahwa gems auction on hold at Sotheby's after India legal threat
Auction house Sotheby's has postponed the auction of a collection of hundreds of jewels linked to Buddha's remains after India's government threatened legal action and demanded the jewels be returned. The sale in Hong Kong of the collection, known as the 'Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha Mauryan Empire, Ashokan Era, circa 240-200 BCE', has drawn criticism from Buddhist academics and monastic leaders. India's government said in a 5 May letter to the auction house that the relics constituted 'inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community. Their sale violates Indian and international laws, as well as United Nations conventions.' The auction was due to take place on Wednesday morning. Sotheby's said in an emailed statement that in light of the matters raised by India's government 'and with the agreement of the consignors, the auction … has been postponed. This will allow for discussions between the parties, and we look forward to sharing any updates as appropriate.' Notice of the gems sale had been removed from its auction house on Wednesday and the website page promoting the auction was no longer available. Sotheby's had said in February that the 1898 discovery of the relics at Piprahwa in northern India ranked 'among the most extraordinary archaeological discoveries of all time'. The gems include amethysts, coral, garnets, pearls, rock crystals, shells and gold, either worked into pendants, beads and other ornaments, or in their natural form. They were originally buried in a dome-shaped funerary monument, called a stupa, in Piprahwa, in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India, between 240BC and 200BC, when they were mixed with some of the cremated remains of the Buddha, who died about 480BC. India said that the proposed auction 'offends the sentiments of over 500 million Buddhists worldwide', adding that the sale violated core Buddhist ethics and disrupted 'sacred tradition'. With Reuters
