Rolex watch thief who struck in Cumbria was gambling addict

A repeat offender who has 17 aliases, Bagasan Graham, 32, has a long history of stealing watches worth thousands of pounds from jewellery stores around the country, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

His latest crime happened on June 14, 2022 when he worked with a woman accomplice to steal four Rolex watches.

Both the woman involved and Graham pleaded guilty to theft. At Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Brendan Burke described what happened.

The first significant event was the defendant and the woman he worked with visiting a tyre centre in the getaway car, a Nissan Micra, claiming the number plates had dropped off asking for replacements.

Unwittingly, the staff fitted the car with new plates which were entirely false, said Mr Burke. After this, the pair travelled to Kendal where the woman walked into the Banks Lyon jewellers and asked to see some Rolex watches.

Read more: Audacious thief fled from Kendal shop with £50k of Rolex watches

“She then left, saying she’d arranged to meet a friend for coffee,” said Mr Burke. “The point of that was to establish a rapport with the staff so that they felt more comfortable with her when she came back.”

Returning later, she spoke to the shop’s owner, again asking to see Rolex watches. Mr Burke said: “The staff were comfortable with her, and even offered her a coffee while she made her decision about what for them would be an expensive purchase.”

Then, with the owner momentarily distracted as he looked out of the shop’s window, the woman grabbed the watches and ran from the shop. 

A witness saw the woman jump into the Micra, which Bagasan then drove away. He was later seen boarding a train at Oxenholme Railway Station.

The woman was stopped by police as she drove the Micra south on the M6. She did not have the watches.(Image: Newsquest)

After identifying Bagasan from CCTV, police raided his home address at Manor Road, Wallington, Sutton, and found instruction booklets that should have been sold with the stolen watches.

Mr Burke then outlined the defendant’s offending background, explaining that he had 17 aliases, though lawyers believe his “legal” name is Johari Nazir Carter. There were multiple thefts on his record.

They included a similar crime involving three Rolex watches from a jewellers in York in 2019 and another similar crime in 2016. The Kendal watches were never recovered, said Mr Burke.

Shada Mellor, defending, said Graham should have been sentenced for the theft at the same time as he was dealt with for other offences. He had already served the equivalent of a seven and a half month sentence.

An intelligent man, he had the potential to be an asset to the community but he had experience childhood adversity, it was said. “He witnessed and was subjected to significant trauma,” said the barrister.

“His form of outlet was gambling, and it’s gambling that has underpinned his offending.” Graham had already spent seven years of his life in jail but he now hoped to break the cycle.

He wanted to be a good role model for his children, said the barrister. “He has overcome his gambling addiction and placed himself on lifetime bans to make sure he does not go back to that habit,” continued Miss Mellor.

He hoped to complete a degree in maths and one day set up his own barbering business, she said. The barrister added: “He’s at a pivotal moment and has taken positive steps to keep going down the correct avenue.”

Judge Nicholas Barker described the defendant's crimes as "a sophisticated form of thieving," and accepted that Graham, given his history of similar offending, was the "chief protagonist" in the theft as well as the getaway driver.But the judge accepted that the defendant had faced trauma in his earlier life and that now, after long spells in custody, he finally wished to reform. He jailed Graham for 18 months.