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Police likened the sophisticated raid to the daring thefts portrayed in the Ocean’s Eleven movie franchise. A Boodles chief was invited to Monaco in March 2016 to meet members of the group posing as Russian businessmen, who struck a deal to buy seven diamonds, including a heart-shaped jewel worth £2.2million. Boodles’ gemmologist Emma Barton met buyers’ representative, “Anna”, who was taken to the basement of the jewellery store for a viewing a few days later.

Philip Stott, prosecuting, said Anna entered Boodles to view the diamonds and waited for a diversional telephone call from one of her fellow crooks.

She swapped the gems for pebbles and slipped the stones into pre-cut tissue paper, placing them inside opaque boxes she had brought.

After leaving, Anna met her associates on the street and handed the diamonds over before the group split up.

Within three hours of the theft, they had all returned to France either by train or car.

The next day the fake buyer confirmed the money would be transferred.

But suspicious staff at Boodles X-rayed the bag and then opened it to discover they had been left with just pebbles, the court heard.

Jovanovic and another man, Christophe Stankovic, had carried out surveillance on Boodles and were loitering nearby on the day of the theft.

Two women had acted as look-outs for Anna while a third woman was standing by with a change of clothes at a pub near Victoria Station.

Flying Squad detectives launched an investigation and made extensive CCTV enquiries, enabling them to retrace the group’s movements across London as they plotted the heist.

The gang had used minicabs in a bid to hide their movements but their departure from the country was quickly established.

Their images were circulated to other police forces. Jovanovic was extradited from Italy in January and arrested. He was charged the same day and admitted conspiracy to steal.

Jovanovic, from Paris, was jailed for three years and eight months at Southwark Crown Court.

Stankovic was caught and jailed in 2016.

DC William Man, of the Sweeney, said: “Like the plot of a film, this was a truly audacious crime.

“They stole the diamonds and fled within hours. However, they left a trail of evidence which led us to where they were staying, and the Citroen they had hired in Paris.

“It was only a matter of time before arrests were made. We remain determined to identify all those involved.”

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