A notorious smooth-talking jeweller – jailed for stealing customers valuables – is back behind bars for flouting a court order within a week of his release.
Andrew Batchelor, 54, (pictured) – dubbed the 'Menace of Mayfair' - was originally jailed for five years in 2009 for duping nearly fifty victims during a five-year scam.
He was given a Serious Crime Prevention Order – prohibiting further jewellery dealing – but set up a trading website within a week of leaving prison.
He was convicted at Southwark Crown Court on three counts of breaching the order and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment.
One count involved a businesswoman, who he entertained at the five-star Royal Garden Hotel, disappearing with her Cartier bracelet during lunch.
Batchelor has a history of charming customers at top hotels and wine bars, convincing them he could achieve top prices for their jewellery, but he never paid, insteading lavishing himself with the proceeds.
Batchelor also earned the nickname the 'Glasgow Goldfinger' during a similar fraud from his store in the city's Exchange Square, which resulted in a five-and-a-half year sentence in 1999.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police Service Lifetime Offender Management Unit arrested Batchelor on March 28 for dealing again and he was charged the same day.
Detective Inspector Karl Amos of the MPS Lifetime Offender Management Unit said: “Batchelor clearly pays little regard to the criminal justice system.
“No sooner had he been released from prison than he was again setting up a false business in breach of the Serious Crime Prevention Order.
“The early enforcement of the Serious Crime Prevention Order allowed the police to make an early and decisive intervention, limiting his ability to commit further crime and preventing further members of the public from losing their belongings.”
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