‘Give me P45, I’ve got it,’ a jeweler told his boss after he was caught stealing a precious £600 gold ring at work

Jagdeep Panesar told his boss ‘Give me my P45, I’ve given it to hell’ after he was caught trying to slip a stolen £600 ring into his boss’s chair, moments after he claimed he unaware of the missing jewellery, London Crown Court heard. Tuesday (May 29).

The 39-year-old father, of Bishops Way in Egham, Surrey, was employed at The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office on Gutter Lane in the City of London, where he was responsible for grading and marking precious metals for customers. On November 3, 2022, Panesar was marking a precious gold ring, worth between £400 and £600, when CCTV cameras saw him put it in a black box.

Asked by his boss, Adam Phillips, about the missing gold band, Panesar said he “knew nothing.” But as prosecutor Kevin Walsh said in court, Panesar entered the office with his hand in his jacket and dropped a napkin on a chair. After Mr Phillips noticed the tissue, which contained the missing ring, Panesar collapsed and told his boss “Give me my P45, I’ve messed up”.

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Mr Phillips reported the incident to the police and Panesar attended a voluntary interview on 13 December 2022. At the police station he told officers “it was not his intention to steal but he panicked” and claimed he was suffering from PTSD. Panesar denied felony theft by an employee and opted for a jury trial, but withdrew his pleas at a preliminary hearing in April after a bad character plea was entered.

If the trial had gone ahead, jurors would have heard about Panesar’s misunderstood stint at a supermarket. Working at Tesco in 2009, the gold thief was alerted for stealing a laptop. Other allegations, of an acquisitive nature, were made against him in 2022, which he admitted in April, although they never resulted in charges or convictions, Mr Walsh told the court.

In a victim impact statement, Panesar’s boss, Mr Phillips, said Panesar’s sacking had led to longer waiting times for customers due to a sudden shortage of skilled staff. It meant that some orders were not ready in time for Christmas.

“A breach of trust”

Defense lawyer Notu Hoon urged the judge to impose a suspended sentence, stressing Panesar’s duty of care to his “frail” wife, child and grandmother. “He has duties beyond the ordinary family. He is the sole breadwinner of his family,” said Mr Hoon.

The barrister also argued that his client should be spared prosecution costs totaling £4,380 because the crime itself was financially motivated. Mr Hoon confirmed that Panesar has since regained a £15-an-hour job as a jeweler at TGC London.

Judge Ian Darling reprimanded Panesar for his crooked ways but opted to spare him an immediate prison sentence with a 20-week sentence suspended for a year.

“The fact that you pleaded guilty to stealing (the ring) highlights the seriousness of your offense because in circumstances where you should have protected an item, you stole it in breach of trust,” Judge Darling said.

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“There is much at stake for you, Mr. Panesar, and I am prepared to show you some mercy. But that would be tempered with a well-deserved but suspended prison sentence … I can’t see any worthwhile gain for society or your former employer if they put you in prison.”

The judge also ordered him to do 100 hours of unpaid work, but spared him any financial costs to avoid another similar offence. “This offense was financially driven and in those circumstances it would be too big a stick to solve this problem,” Judge Darling added.

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