James Stunt visited by ‘five women a week’ before £500k diamond was stolen, court hears 

Tycoon James Stunt met ‘up to five women a week’ and had ‘several visits’ in the run up to the discovery that a £515,000 diamond had been stolen from his home, a court heard. 

Stunt’s former bodyguard Justinas Ivaskevicius, 34, is accused of stealing the £515,000 diamond as well as £50,000 cash from the safe at his £10million home in Belgravia in December 2017.  

Mr Stunt’s former head of security Gabriel Lekwarat previously told police in a statement that ‘up to five women a week’ visited the tycoon.

He added that there had been ‘several’ visits from women in the run up to his discovery of the missing jewels on December 14.

The head of security had opened the safe to retrieve ‘three or four gold bars’ he had been asked by Mr Stunt to drive to Birmingham and found ‘nothing’ in there.

Today Mr Lekwarat told Southwark Crown Court that his employer had previously ordered him to pay one of the women with a gold bar, a court heard.

James Stunt (pictured) was ‘taking lots of drugs’ when his former bodyguard Justinas Ivaskevicius, 34, allegedly stole the 16.18-carat yellow diamond ring from his safe, a court heard

Mr Lekwarat told the court: ‘I was told to meet a lady at St John’s Wood near a pub and give the gold bar to her.’

He said he ‘didn’t know and didn’t ask’ what it was for, but said he had paid her cheques ‘once or twice’ on previous occasions. 

The security guard said he was surprised at his boss’s reaction when he was told ‘he had potentially lost £90million worth of gems.

Mr Lekwarat said: ‘When there’s a slight scratch on one of his cars usually Mr Stunt goes ballistic but he didn’t look very shocked.’

The witness told jurors how Mr Stunt’s godfather, the well-known north London crime boss Terry Adams, paid a visit to the house after the raid.

Mr Stunt arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London to give evidence in the trial of Justinas Ivaskevicius, 34, who is accused of stealing a 16.18 carat diamond from Stunt’s Belgravia mews

The tycoon split from F1 heiress Petra Ecclestone in 2017 after six years of marriage (pictured together)

Michael Lavers, defending Ivaskevicius, told the witness: ‘You said people will never steal anything because they are terrified of Terry Adams, James Stunt’s godfather.’

Mr Lekwarat said: ‘Terry Adams came in and told me make sure you guys sort it out and walked off. He was very upset.’

Prosecutors said Ivaskevicius, posing as ‘Sebastian Thomasz Kowal’, tried to sell the diamond ring to a jewellery dealer in Antwerp, Belgium, before it was sent to the Gemilogical Institute of America. 

Martin Bowyer, prosecuting, has told the court how six months after the raid, on 10 May 2018, the diamond, ‘bearing the price tag of £550,000 turned up at the Gemological Institute of America in New York’.    

Other than the diamond ring, none of the items that were supposed to be in the safe have ever been recovered.

Missing items also include two blue diamonds, a pink diamond, a large white diamond, six 1kg gold bars, and a Cartier engagement ring.

Security guard Justinas Ivaskevicius, 34, is accused of stealing the diamond from Mr Stunt’s Belgravia property (pictured)

Mr Bowyer said Ivaskevicius was involved in the theft of that diamond and ‘during the course of the police investigation into the theft other criminality of this defendant was uncovered. 

He added: ‘Searches of addresses linked to him demonstrate his involvement in a cannabis farm, the possession of a significant quantity of cash representing his proceeds of crime, in handling a quantity of stolen cheques and the use of a number of false identities.’

After arresting Ivaskevicious at his home in Fallowfield, Cambridge in May, Flying Squad detectives found £50,000 and £30,000 in cash, said to be proceeds of criminal activity.

British-Lithuanian Ivaskevicius denies theft, two counts of possessing criminal, carrying a British driving licence with improper intention and producing a controlled drug, namely cannabis and four counts of handling stolen goods.

Jurors have been shown pictures of the contents of the safe, which included two blue diamonds, a pink diamond, a large white diamond, six 1kg gold bars, the yellow diamond ring and a Cartier engagement ring, which Stunt said he gave his ex-wife.

The trial continues.