Pub thief jailed for stealing handbag with £2m Fabergé egg inside

Pub thief jailed over £2.2m Fabergé theft17 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMet PoliceThe stolen Fabergé egg ornament has not been foundAn "opportunistic" thief who stole a handbag containing an emerald-encrusted Fabergé egg and watch set worth up to £2.2 million from a central London pub has been jailed for more than two years.Enzo Conticello, 29, took the Givenchy handbag belonging to Rosie Dawson as she stood outside the Dog and Duck pub in Soho on 7 November 2024.The Fabergé items were in her handbag after she took them for display at a work event earlier that evening. They have not been recovered.Conticello - also known as Hakin Boudjenoune - was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud by false representation and one count of theft at an earlier hearing.The court heard Conticello was after "easy money" and that he had handed over the bag, which also contained a laptop and credit cards, to buy drugs.He was linked to the handbag theft after trying to use Dawson's bank cards in a nearby shop within minutes of committing the crime. Met PoliceConticello did not know how valuable the items were, his barrister told the courtInsurers paid out £106,700 for the loss, but Prosecutor Julian Winship said there were only seven Fabergé sets - containing a jewelled egg, watch, whisky bottle, cigars and humidor - in existence.Conticello's barrister, Katie Porter-Windley, said he previously worked as a chef but lost his job in the Covid pandemic and slipped into cocaine addiction."On the night in question, it was a moment of opportunity which he took, and he is genuinely remorseful for his behaviour," she said.Conticello was arrested for separate theft offences in Belfast in November 2025, more than a year after the handbag theft, and was then linked to the 2024 crime.Porter-Windley told the court Conticello did not realise how valuable the items were that he had stolen.When Record...