An armed robber who took part in a terrifying raid at luxury Gleneagles Hotel was yesterday jailed after he was brought back from South America to face justice.
Dean Jones, 39, was part of a three-man gang who staged the smash and grab heist at a jeweller’s boutique at the five star resort, near Auchterarder, in Perthshire.
Video of the raid is above this article.
Jones, his step-brother Liam Richardson and Richard Fleming escaped with 50 Rolex watches worth £516,750 in the robbery on June 27, 2017. None have been recovered.
Fleming, then 42, was jailed for 15 years with a further three years supervision in 2018 and Richardson, 30, was sentenced to 11 years and four months.
The weekend before Fleming’s trial at the High Court in Edinburgh police discovered that the third man, Jones, had boarded a flight from Turkey bound for Brazil.
The Brazilian authorities were contacted and he was detained as he disembarked from a plane at Sao Paulo airport on August 17, 2018.
He was subsequently extradited back to the UK last year.
Days after the raid he had flown from London to Malaga in Spain and it is believed he then moved on to Morocco before later jetting to South America.
When he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, he admitted taking part in the robbery.
With others, all with their faces masked and in possession of hammers, a machete and pistol, they placed employees Stephen McIvor and Daniel Horne in a state of fear and alarm for their safety and they smashed display cabinets at the Mappin and Webb shop in the hotel.
Jailing Jones for 11 years and four months, Judge Lady Carmichael told him: “The robbery was an act of serious, premeditated criminality. It involved significant advance planning with a visit to the hotel some weeks before.
“Criminality of this nature will not be tolerated.”
She said: “You removed yourself from the country and as a matter of fact avoided, for a significant period, facing the course of justice for the robbery and there was the necessity for extradition proceedings.”
Defence counsel John Scullion QC said Jones was unemployed and in debt in 2017 when he was introduced to Fleming by Richardson. He added: “He stupidly agreed to participate in this offence.”
“Clearly the circumstances of the offence are extremely serious. he acknowledges the incident would have been frightening and distressing for those present.”
Mr Scullion said that Jones, a father of two, had always intended to return to face proceedings over the robbery.
Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Patrick said: “Jones, along with others committed a serious crime targeting Gleneagles Hotel, causing great distress to those who were working and staying there.
‘Today’s sentencing concludes a long and complex enquiry.
“Two other men have already been sentenced for the crime whilst Jones fled the United Kingdom and was later apprehended trying to enter Brazil in 2018, however, with assistance from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the National Crime Agency, officers from Police Scotland travelled to Brazil to extradite him back to Scotland in October 2019.
‘This sentencing serves as a warning to others that such crimes will not be tolerated. These crimes will be fully investigated to ensure those who are responsible are brought to justice.”
David Green, Procurator Fiscal for Major Crime and Homicide, said Jones was part of a gang that armed themselves and committed a violent robbery in broad daylight.
“This has been a long-running case for the Crown Office and it is thanks to the work of police and prosecutors, working with global law enforcement, that he has been brought back to Scotland to face justice,” he added.
