Leader of 'Pink Panther' jewel thieves leaves jail

AN ABERDEEN woman who was linked with serious crimes including one of the world's biggest jewel thefts has been freed from jail in Italy.

Dorothy Fasola, 61, was locked up for her role as one of the masterminds behind the world's most successful jewel theft gang, the "Pink Panthers". The gang stole about 150 million of jewels in more than 120 robberies worldwide in the past decade.

Fasola, a mother of one, was jailed by an Italian court for nearly five years in January 2009. The Ministry of Justice in Rome has now confirmed she has been released on probation.

Fasola was sentenced to four years by a court in Milan in 1998 after being found guilty of organising an armed robbery after 30kg of gold was stolen from a goldsmith's workroom in March 1991. However, she fled to Scotland in 1999 while out on bail appealing the conviction.

Fasola, who ran a fish exporting business in Aberdeen, was eventually extradited to Italy to serve jail terms for the robbery and involvement with a counterfeiting gang.

Police had previously dubbed her the "Mrs Big" behind Japan's biggest ever diamond raid. The Panthers carried out the robbery in Tokyo in 2004, stealing 20m of jewels including the 17m Comtesse de Vendme necklace. Three Serbians were jailed for their roles in the raid after a trial in their home country.

But Fasola, the widow of an Italian businessman, escaped facing charges because she could not be extradited to Serbia.