Fabergé Egg Thief Enzo Conticello Was in Britain Illegally, Court Hears

Enzo Conticello walked into Southwark Crown Court on March 6 carrying a secret beyond his theft charge: he had been living in Britain illegally. The 29-year-old, of no fixed address, admitted stealing a handbag from Rosie Dawson on Bateman Street in London's West End on November 7, 2024 — a bag that happened to contain a Fabergé egg and watch thought to be worth more than £2 million, along with a laptop and credit cards.

The stolen egg is no ordinary ornament. It belongs to The Craft Irish Whiskey Company and forms part of the Emerald Isle Collection, a collaboration between the whiskey brand and Fabergé that pairs rare Irish whiskey with bespoke jewellery and luxury accessories. Dawson, who works as director of premium brands at the company, was drinking at a Soho pub when Conticello took her bag.

Fabergé, founded in Russia in 1842, built its reputation on elaborately gem-encrusted eggs created for the Russian imperial family. The house's modern commissions carry that same weight of expectation: intricate, irreplaceable, and extraordinarily difficult to sell discreetly. That practical reality seemed not to have occurred to Conticello in the immediate aftermath of the theft. He used Dawson's credit cards to buy drinks, cigarettes, and other items at nearby shops in Soho before Metropolitan Police detectives tracked him to Belfast, where he was arrested on January 26 — more than two months after the theft.

Conticello, also known as Hakin Boudjenoune and believed to be from Algeria, admitted theft and three charges of fraud by misrepresentation. Addressing him after the guilty plea, Judge Martin Griffiths said: "I expect it was probably quite a surprise to you when you discovered that egg. What you did with it, I don't quite know, but I expect we're going to find out."

That remains the central unresolved question. Despite ongoing efforts by the Metropolitan Police, both the egg and the watch had not been located at the time of the hearing. Conticello was remanded into custody. What became of a Fabergé object worth millions, taken from a handbag on a London street and never recovered, is a question the court will have to answer at sentencing.