International gang recruited Estonian for jewellery raids

Joonas Jarvsoo helped snatched designer watches worth 670,000 in gunpoint raids at Berry's in Leeds city centre and two other jewellers in Manchester and Wolverhampton over a 10-month period in 2006 and 2007.

He was traced through his DNA found on items left behind by the robbers and is the fifth gang member to be sentenced.

None of the watches including models by Rolex, Patek Phillipe, Franck Muller and Cartier has ever been recovered.

Jarvsoo was extradited from Finland under a European arrest warrant earlier this year after completing a three-year sentence there for a jewellery robbery which is believed to have been organised by the same gang.

Yesterday the 28-year-old admitted three charges of robbery and three of possessing imitation firearms with intent to commit robbery.

Jailing him the Recorder of Leeds Judge Peter Collier QC said: "It is clear that planning was very professional, shops were carefully targeted so small quantities of very high value goods could be stolen with great speed."

Those involved, he said, had different roles to carry out and did so meticulously and with ruthless precision, using imitation guns to terrify staff.

Having taken the watches out of the country the robbers expected to escape detection, but items they discarded led to their arrest.

Clare Stevens, prosecuting, said the first raid involving Jarvsoo was at Berry's in Albion Street, Leeds, on April 11, 2006, when the manager opened the secure door to a man believing he was a customer.

That man pointed what appeared to be a handgun, and ordered him to move back. Three more men then entered the shop, one also carrying a handgun.

While a couple of the robbers watched the staff, one put a length of fabric over the entrance door, preventing it from closing before joining the fourth man who was loading watches from a display cabinet into a canvas bag.

The quartet left with 40 watches worth 335,225. Two ran up Albion Street while the others went in a different direction leaving the imitation guns lying in the doorway. Discarded clothing including a jacket, gloves and hat were found in a nearby alleyway some bearing Jarvsoo's DNA.

On September 7 the gang struck again, at Mappin and Webb jewellers in Manchester. Again a lone man entered and immediately pointed a gun at the security guard. Two more men entered and the three members of staff and three customers present were all ordered to the floor. Watches worth 187,215 were stolen. Clothing items were recovered from a nearby cafe and Jarvsoo's DNA was found on a top.

Finally on January 2, 2007 Rudell jewellers in Wolverhampton was targeted. with the robbers getting away with 148,570 in watches. This time his DNA was found on a hat.

Timothy Jacobs, for Jarvsoo, said work was hard to come by in Estonia and he was recruited by the gang when he got into debt supporting his family. He received only 5-6,000, "a drop in the ocean" to those further up the chain.