Man jailed for £51,000 Rolex theft in Kendal
A man who stole more than £50,000 worth of Rolex watches from a Kendal jeweller has been given an 18-month prison sentence.
The father of three from Rochdale admitted theft.
Carlisle Crown Court heard today that Bagasan Graham, 32, also known as Johari Nasir Carter had a lengthy list of similar crimes under 17 different names and has spent seven years of his adult life behind bars
On 14th June, 2022, Graham and a female accomplice went to a tyre centre in Kendal where staff unknowingly fitted false number plates to a Nissan Micra.
His partner-in-crime entered the Banks Lyon store in Kendal where she showed an interest in a number of expensive watches.
She left the store initially before making a return visit, asking the owner to see four Rolex watches.
“Staff were comfortable, offering her a coffee while she made her decision about what they thought was going to be an expensive purchase,” said prosecutor Brendan Burke.
“While the owner was distracted, looking out of the front window of the shop, the accomplice grabbed all four watches with a collective value of £51,600 and fled the shop.”
She was seen by a bystander running down the street before getting into the Micra driven by Graham, who the prosecutor said was the crime’s “chief protagonist”.
The duo drove to Oxenholme railway station where Graham caught a train south but he was later detained and identified from CCTV footage.
His accomplice was later stopped on the M6 but no watches were found or recovered.
A defence barrister told the court that a gambling addiction lay behind Graham’s offending following a traumatic and challenging early life.
He said the father-of-three had since taken steps to rehabilitate himself, was seeking to take a maths degree, open a barber shop and set a good example to his young sons.
Judge Nicholas Barker had said of his offending: “It is not shop theft. It is a sophisticated form of thieving.”
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