Apple<\/a> laptop, Apple AirPods, a \u00a3350 store voucher, keys, three bank cards, \u00a3200 of makeup, a Mulberry card holder worth \u00a3150 and \u00a320 in cash.<\/p>\nSouthwark crown court heard on Thursday that Conticello was after \u201ceasy money\u201d and handed over the bag \u2013 complete with the Faberg\u00e9 egg and watch \u2013 to buy drugs.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/184.jpg\")
The stolen Faberg\u00e9 egg and watch set is one of only seven \u2013 and three have fetched up to \u00a32.25m when sold. Photograph: Metropolitan Police\/PA<\/p>\n
Kate Livesey, the recorder, sentenced him to two years and three months in prison, telling him the \u201copportunistic\u201d theft had caused \u201cinconvenience and stress\u201d to Dawson and her company.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cMs Dawson described the particular shock and panic upon realising a bag containing items of such particular value owned by the company had been stolen, and the incredible stress this incident has caused her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conticello \u2013 also known as Hakin Boudjenoune \u2013 pleaded guilty at a hearing in February to three charges of fraud by false representation and one count of theft. He was linked to the theft after trying to use Dawson\u2019s stolen bank cards in a nearby shop minutes afterward.<\/p>\n
Julian Winship, prosecuting, told the sentencing hearing: \u201cOn 7 November 2024 at just before 10pm, Ms Dawson went to the Dog and Duck pub in Soho. She was outside the premises in the designated smoking area, she put her handbag on the ground in between her legs, and a few minutes later she noticed her handbag was no longer there.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/155.jpg\")
The stolen watch was part of a Faberg\u00e9 set including the egg, cigars and a case. Photograph: Metropolitan Police\/PA<\/p>\n
The court heard that Dawson had the Faberg\u00e9 items because she had taken them for display at a work event earlier that evening.<\/p>\n
Winship said Conticello \u201cwanted to obtain some easy cash\u201d and prosecutors accepted he did not intend to steal the Faberg\u00e9 egg and watch. Insurers have paid out \u00a3106,700 to the drinks company for the loss.<\/p>\n
There are only seven Faberg\u00e9 sets \u2013 containing a jewelled egg, watch, cigars and case \u2013 in existence. Three have been sold for between \u00a31.5m and \u00a32.2m.<\/p>\n
Conticello\u2019s barrister, Katie Porter-Windley, told the court he lost his job as a chef in the Covid pandemic and slipped into addiction. \u201cOn the night in question, it was a moment of opportunity which he took, and he is genuinely remorseful for his behaviour,\u201d she added. \u201cHe gave the bag to someone to purchase drugs. He had a cocaine addiction at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within minutes of her handbag being stolen, Dawson received a fraud alert on her phone, showing Conticello had tried to use one of her bank cards for a \u00a333.48 purchase at a shop in nearby Berwick Street.<\/p>\n
Two further attempts were made to use her cards, at 11.30pm and 12.30am, but they had already been cancelled.<\/p>\n
The court heard the Faberg\u00e9 egg and watch had not been recovered and Winship said efforts to seek confiscation or compensation from Conticello would not be pursued. \u201cIt appears to me unlikely that the defendant is a person of means able to satisfy either of these particular prosecutorial routes available to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Conticello is likely to serve up to half the prison term before being released on licence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man who stole a handbag containing a Faberg\u00e9 egg and watch set valued at up to \u00a32.2m…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-521490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}