Thief put in highest security prison after normal prison was too full for him

A thief is being held in a category A prison for the most dangerous offenders where he is on 23-hour a day lockdown after stealing a £2 million Chinese Ming Dynasty vase because of the prison overcrowding crisis.

The judge has been asked to bear in mind the prison issues when he sentences a gang caught in a sting trying to sell a ‘priceless’ stolen vase to undercover cops.

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Southwark Crown Court was told that trio, including a former professional footballer signed to West Ham, tried to sell the vase stolen from the Museum of Far Eastern Art in Geneva.

The thieves also took a bowl worth £80,000 and a wine cup which remains missing, in June 2019. Their sentencing was adjourned until Monday but Minka Braun, representing one of the three (Kaine Wright) asked Judge Mr Justice Martin Griffiths to consider the current overcrowding in prisons when sentencing her client.

She said that because category C prisons were full he was being held in a category A facility for far more dangerous offenders. Mbaki Nkhwa, 47, and Wright, 26 – of Charlton and Woolwich in South East London – were convicted of their parts in attempting to sell the white porcelain vase following a four-year undercover operation involving British and Swiss authorities.

Co-defendant David Lamming, 31, of Lewisham, previously admitted to his role in trying to sell the centuries-old vase, which dates back to between 1403 and 1425 AD. Wright played for both West Ham and Brentford at youth level as a midfielder.

He then tried to ply his trade in America with the MLS, representing England in the Socca six-a-side World Cup in 2019. In 2017 he played in in front of Brazil and former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain ace Neymar in the footballer’s Five World Finals competition, where he finished runner-up.

‘You will find category C prisoners languishing in category A prisons for months and years because they simply don’t have the means to move them’

Wright and Nkhwa are both currently being held at HMP Wandsworth in West London, whereas Lamming was on bail prior to today’s hearing. Ms Braun said: “I won’t go into any great detail on prison overcrowding, but for Mr Wright the problems are new.

“He’s struggling but doing what he can to cope. He has been subjected to 23-hour-a-day lockdown and is grateful for a weekly shower with warm water.

“There are extremely limited educational and recreational facilities and prison visits. His family are lucky to get them. There simply isn’t the staff. You will find category C prisoners languishing in category A prisons for months and years because they simply don’t have the means to move them.

“There is a real issue at HMP Wandsworth that they will run out of food. It’s a feature of the tragic reality that has engulfed our prison system.” Ms Braun added that prisoners were currently experiencing ‘onerous’ conditions, and that Wright has dropped ‘considerable weight’ since entering HMP Wandsworth.

But Judge Martin Griffiths deferred their sentencings saying he didn’t want to ‘rush’ his decision. Mr Justice Griffiths said: “I am going to have to put the sentence off until a convenient point next week.

“I am very sorry about this, but I don’t want to rush this and there are lots of points to consider. You can’t prepare everything in advance, then ignore what is said to you. It will be Monday, at ten o’clock.”

Mr Justice Griffiths also granted an extension to Lamming’s bail until Monday’s hearing. In July 2020, China Guardian Auction House tipped off police after receiving an email requesting a valuation of the missing white porcelain vase.

The sender revealed they knew where the vase was, and specialist crime officers traced the email account’s IP address to Lamming’s home in Lewisham, south east London. The court heard Lamming’s role was to find a buyer for the vase.

Outlining the case, prosecutor James Thacker said: “On Saturday June 1, 2019, there was a burglary at the Fondation Baur, Musee des Arts d’Extreme-Orient in Geneva, Switzerland. The museum contains artefacts of ceramics, jade and prints from the far east, China and Japan.

“One of the items stolen was a rare Pomegranate Vase from the Yongle Period. Although priceless, it was valued for insurance purposes for $2.5m (£2,050,625).

“It is not suggested that any of these three defendants were involved in that burglary.” Mr Thacker told the court the trio were involved in an organised criminal group that had attempted to sell the historic vase for £1m.

However, having had no luck, they later settled on an agreed price of £450,000 in cash with undercover coppers posing as buyers. “Each defendant was highly trusted with details of the vase, photographs of the vase, and that it was a stolen rare artefact,” Mr Thacker explained.

“Nkhwa was trusted to attend the exchange with sole possession of the vase. Wright recruited Lamming, he received updates from Lamming who forwarded him WhatsApp messages and emails.

“He also provided transport to the exchange. All three defendants were involved throughout the conspiracy period.” The court heard Lamming also contacted the Art Loss Register based in Hatton Garden in August 2020, saying he had been informed about a vase stolen from Switzerland ‘worth £3m’ that he was ‘trying to help get returned’.

Mr Thacker added that two of the trio suspected of being involved in the theft of the vase – siblings Stewart and Lydia Ahearne, 45 and 34 – had been extradited to Switzerland, whilst another was in prison in the UK. At least one of them is also wanted for extradition to Japan for a 2015 robbery in Tokyo.

An exchange was eventually arranged in October 2020 for the supposed sale of the vase, at the five-star Marriot Hotel in Grosvenor Square, central London. Two undercover police officers – one posing as the buyer and the other posing as an expert in Far-Eastern art – met Nkhwa at the hotel, who was wheeling the vase in a black hold-all flanked by Stewart Ahearne.

When the undercover officer posing as an expert said the vase was from the Ming dynasty, Ahearne replied it was ‘a thousand years old’. The pair were later arrested when police stormed room 347 at the snazzy Mayfair hotel.

Nkhwa, an air conditioning engineer with seven daughters, Wright were convicted of one count of conspiracy to convert criminal property following a trial at Southwark Crown Court earlier this year. Lamming initially also denied the same offence before later changing his plea.

Wright drove the pair to the hotel, and is alleged to have been waiting for them to transport them with the £450,000 in cash they expected to get for the vase. All three representatives for the defendants attempted to argue that each played significant but not leading roles in the ‘remarkably unsophisticated’ operation.

The trio will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Monday morning.

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