A jewellery thief has admitted to robbing a Charlestown Square store of more than $10,000 worth of pieces.
In the months before he struck Pandora, Jason Towerton also stole a $20,000 generator from a Jesmond car park and broke into a woman's van while she was setting up a wedding ceremony.
The 51-year-old man was set to defend several charges but pleaded guilty to three offences in Newcastle District Court this week.
Towerton will find out his fate in November for two counts of larceny and one of breaking, entering and stealing. One fraud offence will be taken into account at sentencing.
Prosecutors dropped nine counts of fraud, one of destroying or damaging property, and two related to breaking and entering.
It was about 6.30am on December 10, 2024, when Towerton drove his Ford Falcon to a Jesmond shopping centre car park and hitched a hire trailer - with a $20,000 generator on it - to his own vehicle and drove off.
About 1.30pm on January 25, 2025, a woman was carrying chairs from her van on Hickson Street to the nearby lookout for a wedding ceremony.
Towerton and an unknown woman smashed one of the vehicle's windows and stole the woman's handbag with $400 in cash, gift cards and keys inside.
Attempting to hide behind a hat and mask, Towerton then ran up a bill of $921.36 on her cards, including at Lake Macquarie supermarkets, liquor stores and a Smokemart.
About a month later on February 24, one of the two front doors to the Pandora store at Charlestown Square was accidentally left unlocked at the end of the day.
Towerton and a woman approached and pushed on the doors, discovering the mistake. He returned alone just after 8pm that night carrying a duffle bag and wearing a cap and grey hoodie.
He entered, opened an unlocked drawer, removed three large trays containing 98 items of jewellery worth $10,625, shoved them in the bag and fled.
Police were notified when he triggered an internal alarm.
Police went to an address in King Street, Newcastle, on February 27, 2025, and arrested Towerton at the scene. They found and seized the Pandora jewellery.
Towerton is on conditional bail, which was continued ahead of his sentencing later this year.
