Last updated at 11:50, Saturday, 13 October 2012

A Romanian woman who stole a £28,500 ring from a Cumbrian jewellers’ shop was part of a gang that went Around the country looking for “soft targets”, a court has heard.

Bacana Adam, 43, went with a male accomplice into the Necessary Angel, the boutique jewellery shop in Packhorse Lane, Keswick, on May 1, asked to look at the most expensive rings in the shop.

Sales assistant Glynis Williams showed her some, but Adam, and the man who was with her, said they weren’t expensive enough.

“Ms Williams was suspicious of the pair,” prosecuting counsel Brendan Burke told Carlisle Crown Court, “but at the same time she did not want to run the risk of turning them away if they were genuine customers who might have been about to make a high-value purchase.”

She opened a cabinet containing the most valuable items on the premises and, while the man distracted her, Adam pocketed the diamond and platinum ring and walked out of the shop with it, saying “Sorry” as she went, the court heard.

Ms Williams immediately went back to the cabinet “to confirm her worst fears”, Mr Burke said.

Neither the ring – a “flawless” 1.25 carat diamond in a platinum setting designed by the Necessary Angel’s own Deborah Cowin – nor the male accomplice has been seen since.

Adam was quickly arrested because by the time of the theft, on May 1, police in the north east had circulated a photograph of her after an appearance in court for a similar incident there.

The court heard Adam had previous convictions all over the country, as well as in France and Rumania.

Adam, of Morris Road, Birmingham, was jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to the Keswick theft.

Judge Paul Batty told Adam: “You are a professional criminal. This is organised crime. You travel the length and breadth of this country with one or more accomplices in order to commit crime.”

First published at 10:51, Saturday, 13 October 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk