Jail for sophisticated thief after an 'entire life' of crime

Recorder William Boyce QC told career criminal Yuri Harris, 48, he had no doubt that he would remain a thief "for the rest of your life".

Harris led a gang that targeted rich victims in areas where they would have been off their guard, Southwark Crown Court in London heard.

But he was caught when senior police officers recognised him at a jewellery fair at Earl's Court exhibition centre in London on September 7 last year.

His accomplice Maher Ghalaini, 50, was jailed for four years.

Sentencing Harris, Recorder William Boyce said: "I've no doubt at all that you are an incorrigible life-long career professional thief.

"You started at the age of 15 and you are now aged 48.

I'm satisfied you conducted your entire life by preying on other people and their property. As you have regressed in to maturity you have developed a high degree of professionalism.

"I have every reason to believe you will carry on being a thief for the rest of your life. However, I do not punish you for the future, I punish you for the past."

The judge added that his sentence had to focus "on punishment, and possibly deterrence, but I doubt it".

Harris smirked and shook his head as he was sent down.

Earlier, Harris and Ghalaini laughed with each other in the dock as the judge read out "a whole host of very severe aggravating features".

The judge said: "This is not a typical case of theft."

He said the two men were "sophisticated, international jewellery

thieves and they were operating as a team".

"They planned their forays into expensive areas to commit pre-planned thefts," he said.

Outside court, Detective Sergeant Dave Taylor, of the British Transport Police, said Harris stole more than 500,000 since last coming out of jail in May 2008, adding that was "a very conservative estimate".

Earlier, the court had been told that Harris, from Brighton, and Ghalaini, from Ealing in west London, targeted the chauffeur-driven car of Saudi Arabian prince Abdulaziz Ben Fahd in Brook Street, London, on August 17 last year.

After distracting the chauffeur they stole a pouch containing 5,000, bank cards and other items from the front passenger seat.

Harris was found guilty of conspiracy to steal and concealing criminal property.

He pleaded guilty at the end of the prosecution's case to possessing false identity cards, timing which the judge described as "cynical in the extreme".

Ghalaini pleaded guilty to theft, fraud and possession of false identity documents.