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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National

Man jailed for stealing $107k worth of jewellery in Greenhills raid

A smash-and-grab, in which a bandit escaped with more than $107,000 worth of jewellery, has landed the man a jail term.

Luke Jurak was sentenced to three years behind bars, with an 18-month non-parole period, in Maitland Local Court on Thursday afternoon.

Jurak stole $107,997 worth of precious items - including a gold and diamond necklace worth $52,999, as well as two other chains valued at $34,999 and $19,999 each - from the Simon Curwood store at Greenhills on July 6, 2022.

The robbery was captured on CCTV.

Jurak rode an unregistered trail bike into the Greenhills shopping centre carpark just before 9.30am while an accomplice was behind him in a white Jaguar.

Luke Jurak moments before he smashed a glass display cabinet at Greenhills shopping centre and stole $107,000 worth of jewellery.

The now 37-year-old, who was wearing a balaclava, went into the jewellery store carrying a plastic shopping bag and smashed a glass display cabinet using a multi-tool.

He ran from the scene and escaped on the trail bike but left the multi-tool in the smashed cabinet.

Police later matched Jurak to DNA taken from the tool.

Strike Force Malwood was set up to investigate the robbery.

Detectives arrested Jurak in October and charged him with larceny and destroying/damaging property.

According to court documents, he refused to consent to police taking a DNA sample following his arrest, and asked them if they planned to "clone" him using the hair they were trying to get.

Police ultimately obtained a legal order for the hair sample.

The theft was part of a crime spree over the space of about six weeks, which included a wild brawl, a police pursuit and a car-jacking using a spear gun.

Jurak was sentenced to four years in jail earlier this month for the other crimes he committed around the time of the jewellery store heist.

Magistrate Ron Maiden said his sentence in the local court would begin on Thursday and would effectively add six months onto the prison term he received in the district court.

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