Graff lose over £6m as result of robbery

Graff Diamonds, owned by the billionaire tycoon Laurence Graff, 72, lost more than (£6.6m) $10m as a result of the robbery. The actual value of the pieces for insurance purposes, which included a £3.5m necklace, was put at $39m (£26m). But according to Nicholas Paine, the company secretary, the syndicate that insured Graff was only liable for $28.9m. There was a £100,000 excess, and $10m was at Graff's own risk. It was not the first time the prestigious jewellers, with salons around the world, had been hit. Defence lawyer Courtenay Griffiths had told the jury that Graff had "held the record for almost a decade for the most expensive jewellery heists." Defence lawyers had claimed the raid was "an inside job" for insurance, a claim denied by company witnesses, and dismissed as "fantasy land" by the prosecution. Such salons are vulnerable, despite elaborate security measures, including hold up alarms and CCTV monitored from the shop's basement. Insurance experts believe the only way is for gems to be displayed not in shops, but in secure premises away from the high street for viewing by appointment. Top-end shops are also hostage to the eccentricities of the wealthy clientele they seek to attract, as well as a culture in which staff politely ignore oddity. Apart from the makeup both robbers wore, Kassaye sported black leather gloves in August. Security staff noticed this, yet waved them through the air-locked security chamber to be warmly greeted by the shop's manager. Martin Leggatt, the salon manager, who was spreadeagled at gunpoint during the raid, said it was not in the staff's "remit" to "sartorially assess" clients or their use of "cosmetic enhancements and vanity products". If customers – pop stars, actors, tycoons – resorted to such methods "perhaps to capture their heydays in the 60s or 70s", politeness dictated staff made no observations. Clive Golanski, a shop assistant, told the jury: "When you have been in the business as long as me, you see clients in many strange outfits, dress, wigs, many things".