Pair admit armed raid on top Scottish jewellery store
TWO men have admitted carrying out a £730,000 heist at a l e a d i ng Scott i s h jewellers.
Elliot Jorgensen and Anthony Boyd were involved in the armed raid at the prestigious Rox store in Edinburgh in January this year.
Staff were threatened with a revolver and an axe, with one female worked dragged across the store at gunpoint.
Jorgensen, 25, and Boyd, 26, admitted to a charge of assault and robbery yesterday when they appeared at the High Court in Glasgow.
Jorgensen was previously jailed for robbery in 2007.
Judge Lord Matthews adjourned the case until next month, but said a lengthy jail-term was “obvious”.
Prosecutor AndrewBrown, QC, told how the robbery was “carefully planned”.
He explained how the two accused played “different, but vital” roles in the crime. Jorgensen, of Salford, was involved in the raid itself with an unknown accomplice, while Boyd, of Manchester, had a central role in the organisation of the robbery.
Mr Brown said “reconnais- sance” was carried out on the store in George Street.
It was found Boyd had asked another man to transport a stolen motorbike from Manchester to Edinburgh on the day of the robbery.
The address f or t he drop- off was the street in the capital where Boyd’s mother lived. The Honda bike was used as a getaway vehicle.
Mr Brown told how that around 5.15pm on January 15, two masked men stormed into the shop armed with an axe and a gun.
The court heard sales assistant Samera Afzal and sales manager Ho Suet So “froze with fear”.
Jorgensen brandished a revolver at the women and yelled: “Don’t move.”
Jorgensen’s accomplice started smashing glass cabinets and filled a rucksack.
Jorgensen then grabbed Miss Afzal to go with him to another part of the store.
Mr Brown said: “The accused then placed the gun into her left side and pulled her forcefully by the arm into an area where cabinets containing the most expensive pieces of jewellery were displayed.” Jorgensen took items including a £100,000 collar.
Rox manager Katy Lawrence, who was in her office, heard the commotion and pressed a panic alarm.
Jorgensen and the other man fled, but only after Miss Afzal was threatened again. The pair raced out into George Street, yelling at passers-by, and fled.
The axe and other items were found nearby.
Jorgensen’s DNAwas later found on one of the gloves, leading to himbeing detained on January 23. The court heard police got hold of footage of him being handed a large quantity of cash at a restaurant in Manchester before his arrest.
Boyd was charged in March after he was found to have played an “important role” in the robbery. The court heard 77 items were taken from the Rox store and the total value was £726,866. None of the stolen items have been recovered.
Mr Brown said the Rox staff had been “seriously affected”.
Jorgensen’sQC,JimKeegan, and Boyd’s lawyer, Liam O’Donnell, yesterday entered guilty pleas on their behalf.
A third man – Aldair Warmington, 26 – was alleged to have been involved in the raid, but his not guilty pleas were accepted by prosecutors.