London wine thief avoids jail

"To cut a lengthy story short, some wine has been recovered and there are a total of 32 unopened bottles of wine, they are valued at approximately £6,687," said Judge Mark Lucraft KC during the sentencing of Iuliu Kubola yesterday.

Kubola appeared in court charged with the theft of around £31,000 worth of wine from four London restaurants: Comptoir Cafe and Wine in Mayfair, sibling restaurants Oliveto and Olivo in Belgravia, and Piazza Italiana in the City of London. It was from the latter that he stole the vast majority, loading 73 bottles of wine, valued at £23,801. He would load the stolen wine into a wheelie bin which he transported around in his pedal-powered tuk-tuk.

With footage of his thefts caught on CCTV, Kubola was apprehended by police on 22 June. Asked by police what he intended to do with the wine found in his possession, including a bottle of Villa Bucci Verdicchio Classico Superiore, Kubola claimed: “The wine is to drink, no?”

Trial

During his appearance at the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales in the City of London, two weeks ago, Kubola's defence, Daisy Kell-Jones, claimed that her client used to work at Oliveto and Piazza Italiana, and that the theft of the bottles was Kubola's attempt to secure some payment from his work. It was also claimed that the stolen wine had been stored by Kubola at a wine merchant and restaurant close to Aldgate, in the City of London.

In response, Judge Lucraft gave him an ultimatum: "I am going to adjourn the sentence to permit Mr Kubola to assist police to recover what was taken. If that has not happened by then [3 November], I will draw my own conclusions from that."

Sentencing

Kubola was sentenced yesterday to 20 months in custody suspended for two years – he avoided jail by assisting in the recovery of some of the stolen bottles.

Detective Chief Inspector Kev Ives from the City of London Police told reporters outside the court that there was no evidence to support Kubola's defence that he had worked at two of the restaurants he stole from.

What has happened with the remaining bottles of wine that were taken from the restaurants remains a mystery.