Abbey Wood: Woman jailed for setting up friend to steal £25,000 worth of items in home robbery

A woman who set up a close friend to steal £25,000 worth of items has been jailed.

Simone Fortune, 37, from Gravesend, conspired with Carlos Lane to rob the man at his address in Abbey Wood.

Ms Fortune and a young female companion visited the victim at his house on November 23, 2021.

Around 15 minutes after she arrived, there was a knock on the door which Ms Fortune insisted on answering.

She opened the door and then Mr Lane burst in and acted out a scenario in which he grabbed her by the hair and threatened to harm her unless the victim cooperated.

Mr Lane instructed Ms Fortune to bind the victim to a chair with tape and then began to steal £25,000 worth of items including jewellery.

Mr Lane then fled the address with two bags. Ms Fortune untied the victim but then said she had to leave to pick up another child.

Police later called and spoke to Ms Fortune but found inconsistencies in her account of what happened.

Using phone records, detectives could see Fortune had travelled to a different location to where she had said, including a trip to a service station on the M25 in the hours prior to the robbery.

CCTV analysis showed Ms Fortune’s car and her meeting a person later identified as Carlos Lane.

Officers attended Ms Fortune’s address to execute an arrest warrant – when they arrived, Mr Lane was also present. Both were arrested. Further analysis of their mobile phone revealed messages exchanged between the pair, discussing how they were attempting to sell some of the items they had stolen.

Mr Lane has been jailed for five years and three months after pleading guilty to robbery at Woolwich Crown Court.

Ms Fortune was jailed for a total of four years on charges of robbery and perverting the course of justice.

Detective Toks Jegede, the officer in charge of the investigation, said: “Simone Fortune had been a close friend of the victim and his family for over 14 years but she betrayed that trust in the most despicable manner.

“Not only did she manipulate a situation where she and her partner Carlos Lane could carry out a robbery that left the victim understandably terrified, she even exposed a young child to this frightening situation.

“Fortune is an extremely manipulative woman who conspired with Lane to carry out this plan. Both must now spend a significant amount of time in jail which is fully deserved.

“The victim continues to recover from his ordeal with the support of his friends and family, and I would like to commend his strength throughout this investigation.”