Kim Kardashian’s ‘grandpa robber’ has died just a month after he was convicted for his spectacular heist, according to reports.
Didier Dubreucq, 69, suffered from lung cancer and had to be hospitalized during the trial for the 2016 armed robbery.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison in May this year.
The thief, dubbed ‘Blue Eyes’, died from his illness on Thursday morning, according to the French authorities.
The guilty verdict was handed down on May 23, but Dubreucq did not attend court that day.
He always denied being involved in the heist.
A few hours after the verdict, Dubreucq addressed the court in a letter read by his lawyer.
‘I never participated in this jewelry theft. You don’t condemn a man on the altar of suspicion and doubt,’ he wrote.
Dubreucq even addressed a few words to Ms Kardashian, who was held captive and gagged during the robbery, as well as to Abderrahmane Ouatiki, receptionist at the hotel where the star was staying at the time of the events.
‘The ordeal they endured deeply disturbed them, and I felt the trauma they are experiencing today in their voices. It did not leave me indifferent. I dare to hope that in time they will find the path to healing,’ he said.
Dubreucq, was part of a gang of notorious criminals who went on trial in Paris in April accused of the terrifying gun-point robbery of reality TV star Kim Kardashian, in a £8.5 million jewellery heist.
He was suspected of being the second man to enter Kim Kardashian’s hotel room.
The audacious early hours raid in October 2016 took place at the height of Paris Fashion Week, and at the height of the socialite’s celebrity, then wife to rapper Kanye West.
Ms Kardashian, now 44, was alone in the penthouse apartment of her £13,500-a-night hotel, dozing on the bed in a silk night gown, when two men disguised as policemen burst into the room and put a gun to her head.
The celebrity was bound and gagged, ‘like a sausage’ and dumped in the bath of her ensuite bathroom while robbers spent 49 minutes snatching millions of pounds worth of gems and watches including her 18.88 carat diamond engagement ring.
As they fled, one robber dropped a platinum cross adorned with diamonds that was found the next morning.
Visibly traumatised Kim Kardashian fled the country by private jet after giving a brief statement to French detectives and was consoled by husband Kanye West who halted a concert, telling fans he had a ‘family emergency’.
In the intervening years, the mother told how she feared she would be killed and pleaded for her life, crying: ‘Don’t kill me, I have babies!’
Ms Kardashian has been denied justice for years, with delays on bringing the case to court blamed on the priority of high-profile terrorist trials.
There were also fears that the publicity of this trial would destroy Paris’ reputation as a high-class tourist destination ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games.
But last month the reality TV star relived her terrifying ordeal almost nine years ago when she gave evidence in the trial.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow.
