A notorious South London gangster - who boasted about his life of crime in his autobiography - is starting a two year and three month sentence after he was jailed for duping a businesswoman out of £250,000 worth of jewellery.
Jimmy Tippett, 41, author of 'Born Gangster' initially claimed he was forced into the heist by violent thugs, but abandoned this defence after learning the prosecution planned to read extracts of his book to the jury.
He convinced the jewellery dealer to meet him at a hotel and arrived with a fellow-crook, who posed as a wealthy Saudi businessman's buyer.
During the meeting at the Bromley Court Hotel with Anita Cotton, Tippett distracted her and walked off with the uninsured jewellery, which has never been recovered.
This left the shocked victim with a £99,600 wholesale bill to the Hatton Garden jewellers, who had supplied her with the stock.
Tippett, of Chancery Lane, Beckenham and Mark Spink, 52, of Calverley Close, Beckenham, who received twenty-two months, both pleaded guilty to stealing the jewellery from Mrs Cotton at the Coniston Road hotel on August 29, last year.
A separate charge against Tippett of stealing £48,000 worth of jewellery from a woman in Brighton while on the run was dropped by the prosecution.
In his autobiography Tippett says he was born into a criminal aristocracy, with his father bare-knuckle fighter Jimmy Tippett snr. known as the 'Guv'nor of Lewisham.'
His first arrest was at the age of twelve, he was carrying a gun at the age of sixteen and visiting Reggie Kray in prison.
Ironically, his boasts were used against him at Croydon Crown Court where prosecutor Mr. Julius Capon said: "Mr. Tippett is an author and in a synopsis of his book 'Born Gangster' he says he was involved in drug deals, robberies, bloody fights and dodgy scams.
"He says he has no regrets about his life and makes no apologies for his crimes. He says he has never done an honest day's work in his life and was not forced into criminal activity, but was a path he chose."
Tippett's criminal career has taken him to the Costa del Crime, Britain's toughest prisons and associations with London's underworld.
"Mrs Cotton runs a small company that sells jewellery and many of her sales were made via the internet and she had been in contact with Tippett on the internet and via telephone and text messages," explained Mr. Capon.
A proposed meeting at the Dorchester hotel fell through so Tippett agreed to meet Mrs Cotton in Bromley.
"He claimed he would be with a man called 'Bruce', who was the representative of a Saudi businessman.
"The story was that the Saudi businessman wanted to buy jewellery for his prostitutes and Mrs Cotton was asked to bring some jewellery with her.
"They met in the lounge of the hotel, with Spink posing as 'Bruce' and all three sat around a table and the defendants continued with the scam, asking questions and examining the jewellery.
"Tippett distracted Mrs Cotton when asking her questions about the prices of certain pieces and he got up and walked out with the jewellery.
"Spink remained, but after a short while tried to leave for the toilets and kept trying to escape.
"The victim's husband, who had some concerns about the meeting, was nearby and when he saw Spink he called the police and the defendant was arrested as he tried to leave in a cab."
When quizzed by police Spink claimed he thought it was just an innocent social get-together, saying: "I was just looking at the pretty lady."
Tippett went on the run and was circulated as wanted and was eventually arrested at a Ramsgate Travelodge hotel.
Both defendants have lengthy criminal histories for offences of theft and burglary and Tippett has additional convictions for violence and public order.
Jailing the pair Judge Stephen Waller said: "This was a scam. A confidence trick."
No comments:
Post a Comment