Rox jewellery shop robbery pair jailed for 22 years

Anthony Boyd, 26 (left) and Elliot Jorgensen, 25. Picture: PA

Rings, watches and necklaces, including a £100,000 diamond collar, were stolen in an armed robbery at the Rox store in the capital in January.

Elliot Jorgensen, 25, from Salford, threatened staff with a replica revolver and grabbed gems. He was given an extended sentence of 15 years at the High Court in Glasgow.

Judge Lord Matthews said Jorgensen, who has a previous conviction for robbery, is a danger to the public and must serve 12 years behind bars and a further three on licence.

Anthony Boyd, 26, from Manchester, helped prepare and plan the robbery, and was sentenced to ten years.

Jorgensen and an unknown accomplice robbed the George Street jewellers with the fake gun and an axe on January 15.

Within 90 seconds, they snatched 77 items worth £726,866, which have yet to be recovered.

A female worker dragged across the floor at gunpoint suffered psychological trauma and has since been unable to return to work, the court heard.

Jorgensen was snared by DNA found on a glove left behind at the scene and admitted being recruited and carrying out the heist.

He has since written to the staff member to apologise for his actions. His lawyer Jim Keegan said: “It didn’t occur to him that people would be hurt in a psychological way.”

Engineer Boyd got involved to pay off a £1,300 drug debt, his lawyer John Scott told the court.

After the sentencing, Michelle Macleod, procurator fiscal for the High Court in the east of Scotland, said: “The robbery of Rox jewellers was an audacious plan to steal hundreds of thousands-worth of jewellery in broad daylight on one of Edinburgh’s busiest streets.

“Thankfully, nobody was physically injured but being threatened with a gun and axe was a terrifying ordeal for those working in the shop, and no doubt has had a lasting effect on those who witnessed the robbery.”

The robbery, which took place during working hours, was “carefully planned and “efficiently executed”, prosecutors said.

After smashing open cabinets and stealing the goods, Jorgensen and another man made off together on a stolen motorbike. Jorgensen and Boyd pleaded guilty to assault and robbery at a hearing last month.

Lord Matthews granted a Crown request for an order instructing each of the men to pay £1 since they have “no retrievable assets”.

The order means that, should assets be recoverable in the future, the Crown can confiscate them as proceeds of crime.

The judge said the men were guilty of a “most serious offence”.

“The effect of this kind of conduct on staff is obvious,” he said.