Craig Polkinghorne sentenced for jewellery shop heist in The Hills

A robber whose trademark was getting inside jewellery shops from above in shopping centres turned the ‘liquid cash’ to feed his drug habit.

Audacious thief Craig Adam Polkinghorne — who stole more than $820,000 worth of jewellery, cash clothes and drugs from businesses in Baulkham Hills, North Rocks, Winston Hills and Norwest has been sentenced over the heist.

The 44-year-old father of two went on an eight-month spree between May 2019 and June 2020 to feed his $1400-a-week drug habit, Parramatta District Court heard on Friday when he was sentenced for the heist using the unorthodox entry via business ceilings.

Polkinghorne appeared via video in court when it heard how the former stonemason used a rope and carefully picked his tools to use for what Judge Ian Bourke said was a sophisticated execution.

He inflicted $148,000 worth of damage on jewellers during the heist and was charged with nine counts of break and enter, and break and enter intending to commit serious indictable offence.

Craig Polkinghorne was arrested at Baulkham Hills after his stealing spree. Picture: NSW Police

Some of the watches stolen from during Polkinghorne’s heist.

The court heard how when Pokinghorne was arrested at his Baulkham Hills home on January 8 last year he told police “I can’t believe how long it took you to catch up with me’’ and said there were no drugs left. “It’s all gone up the hole in my arm,’’ he said.

In the home, police found jewellery boxes including a bag with three watches and hundreds of individual pieces of jewellery, a black bag containing tools and a cap with LED lighting and a climbing rope.

Polkinghorne admitted to police he burgled Mullanes for painkillers after suffering a chronic knee injury at work in 2018 when he turned to Oxytocin and heroin and developed an expensive drug habit.

Craig Polkinghorne was surprised how long it took for police to arrest him. Picture: NSW Police

In 2001, a vehicle collision led to facial fractures and for him to become dependent on Oxytocin.

The jewellery from the heist was sold to pawnbrokers in Parramatta, Merrylands and Granville.

Justice Bourke said the offences showed sophisticated planning “and degree of skill’’ that led to a violation of privacy for businesses and individuals.

He took into account Pokinghorne’s early guilty plea, that he worked alone and undertook the heists at night without confronting people.

Prouds at Stockland Mall Baulkham Hills was targeted twice.

The court heard how Pokinghorne had a long criminal history from when he was a youth in Western Australia and was first jailed as a 20 year old before moving to NSW where he has been imprisoned five times for theft and drug offences.

The court heard Polkinghorne landed in trouble when his mother died of cancer when he was 12 and his former alcoholic father became a Jehovah Witness, leaving him to turn to run away and turn to alcohol, cannabis and amphetamines.

The Ritz Jewellers was robbed of $170,000 worth of jewellery.

Since being in custody for the jewellery offences, the court heard he is learning not to relapse with drugs and is mentoring younger inmates, and has also reunited with his partner and “baby mama’’ of his children.

Justice Bourke told the court a former employer who worked with Polkinghorne as a contractor between 2007 and 2019 praised him as one of the “best stonemasons he had encountered’’.

He said his risk of reoffending depended on if he turned to drugs and ordered him to undertake a compulsory drug treatment program while in custody.

Polkinghorne was sentenced to jail for five years and nine months, meaning he will remain behind bars until October 7, 2025.

He is eligible for parole on July 7, 2023.

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