$120m jewel heist robbers sent to jail

The entrance of the Harry Winston jewellery store near the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Photo / AP

Eight people have been convicted in connection with a spectacular 2008 holdup at a Harry Winston jewellery shop in Paris, in which three cross-dressing gunmen stole about US$92 million ($120 million) in loot, a defence lawyer said.

Lawyer Philippe Stepniewski said sentences ranged from nine months to 15 years in prison - with the heaviest penalty handed to Douadi Yahiaoui, a 50-year-old repeat offender and alleged ringleader of the heist.

In the robbery, the gunmen wore silky wigs, skirts, stockings and high heels, and took less than 20 minutes to steal hundreds of jewellery pieces and watches.

The eight were convicted on charges including armed robbery in an organised gang, criminal association, and receiving stolen goods in the 2008 heist, and another a year earlier at the same store. In that one, thieves dressed as building painters slipped in through the store's service entrance.

Authorities estimated the two heists netted more than 100 million ($148 million) in luxury watches, necklaces, earrings and other valuables.

Stepniewski's client, Mouloud Djennad, was a security guard at the Harry Winston store and an inside accomplice who tipped off the thieves to the amount of the bounty inside, according to court documents.

Many of the jewels haven't been found. Some turned up after police detained 25 people in a 2009 sweep.

Two years later, 19 rings and three sets of earrings worth around 18 million were dug out from a Paris-area rain sewer near Yahiaoui's house - hidden in a plastic container set in a cement mold.