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From: t4tediboy@hotmail.co.uk
Date: Sun Aug 08 2010 - 18:46:09 EDT
Men convicted of £40m Graff jewellery robbery in London
Clockwise: Aman Kassaye, Solomun Beyene, Clinton Mogg and Thomas
Thomas The gems stolen in the "high stakes" raid have never been
recovered
Two more men accused of taking part in the UK's biggest jewellery
robbery have been found guilty.
Diamonds worth £40m were stolen from the Graff store in central
London in August last year.
Solomun Beyene, 25, of St John's Wood, and Clinton Mogg, 43, of
Bournemouth, were found guilty of conspiracy to rob at Woolwich Crown
Court.
Two other men have already been found guilty. The jury could not
reach a verdict on Craig Calderwood, 27.
Right hand man
Thomas Thomas, 46, of East Finchley, north London, and Aman Kassaye,
25, of Battersea, south London, were convicted of conspiracy to rob
at an earlier hearing.
Kassaye, the plot's mastermind, was also convicted of possessing a
firearm.
* 'Terrifying' £40m heist had flaws
The court has heard Beyene was his right-hand man. He and Mogg were
both found guilty by a majority verdict of the jury after 16 days of
deliberations.
The jurors failed to reach a verdict on Mr Calderwood, of no fixed
abode, and they were discharged.
He had been accused of conspiracy to rob, possession of a handgun and
possession of a sawn-off shotgun.
He admitted taking part but claims he was forced into this by criminals.
He will find out if he faces a retrial at 1030 BST on Wednesday while
the other defendants will be sentenced at a later date.
'High stakes' raid
Police have also issued an appeal to the public to help find a
motorcyclist suspected of making off with the loot.
He was passed a black plastic bin bag containing the gems moments
after the heist.
Image of the wanted motocyclist Police lost track of the biker
A £1m reward remains in place for information leading to the recovery
of the 43 pieces.
The biker was forced to abandon his gold Suzuki SV650 when it broke
down just a short distance away in Berkeley Square.
Officers scoured hundreds of hours of CCTV in a bid to trace his
escape route through central London.
But they lost track of him after he walked into Green Park, a short
distance from Buckingham Palace.
The gems stolen in the "high stakes" raid have never been recovered,
despite being laser stamped with an identifying code.
One diamond necklace alone has been valued at £3.5m.
It is thought the criminals who planned the raid are still at large.
A woman held hostage at gunpoint by robbers as they fled said she was
"petrified".
Petra Ehnar said: "I was thinking I am going to be shot, killed."
The robbers, who used professional make-up to disguise themselves,
had forced employees to hand over jewellery.
Ms Ehnar was held hostage by the robbers as they fled, shooting at a
guard who tried to tackle them.
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