PHOTO: Notorious Thief caught after abandoning his mobile phone at crime scene - with his photo picture as his screensave

Left, Germain Ibrahim Fofana, who stole nearly £250,000 worth of valuables in a crime spree across London. Right, the selfie that led police to him after he accidentally left behind his phone at a burglary

A prolific jewellery thief who snatched nearly a quarter of a million pounds worth of valuables from London shops was caught after leaving behind his mobile phone with a selfie as a screensaver at the scene of a crime.

Mechanic Germain Ibrahim Fofana, 27, who blew the....
money gambling in casinos, received five-and-a-half years imprisonment yesterday for a total of forty-five offences.

Police identified the New York-native, whose father is American and his mother from the Ivory Coast, from the 'selfie' picture on the screensaver of the phone he left at the scene of an £18,000 jewellery theft from Ernest Jones in Kingston-upon-Thames on May 18.
Posing as a customer he entered the shop with a female accomplice, who had a young child in a buggy, at 1.45pm, claiming to be looking for an engagement ring.

He returned alone thirty minutes later and asked to see the two original engagement rings he viewed and a wedding ring to compare styles, running out of the shop when the assistant handed them over.
When police announced the manhunt Detective Sergeant Damion Cumming said: 'In his hurry to get out of the shop, the suspect left his mobile phone on the table alongside his bag.

'While police were on the scene the phone lit up, having received a text message, and a picture of the suspect was saved as the background.

'It was the shop assistant, who served him, who was able to identify the person in the picture.'

Police used the information to tie Fofana, who lived in a modest home in Peckham, to a string of similar offences committed all over the capital.

The total haul was worth £237,663, but when arrested Fofana only had £250 cash and a fake Omega watch on him and the court made no order regarding costs and compensation.

'You have showed yourself to be a prolific thief,' Recorder Lionel Persey QC told him.

'The modus operandi was that you went into a shop and asked to see items of jewellery and would snatch the jewellery and run off.

Fofana's lawyer Mr. Oliver Weetch told the court: 'He's co-operated fully with the police in going through a large number of offences and providing information on them.

'The offending is a result of a heavy gambling addiction and a problem with alcohol. Like most gamblers he's lost all his money.'

An Interpol check revealed confusion as to Fofana's conduct in France before coming to the UK, initially suggesting he had convictions for armed robbery, burglary and handling stolen goods then a second enquiry stating he was of good character.

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