KIM Kardashian’s “grandpa robber” who stole millions-worth of jewellery in a terrifying Paris hotel room heist has died days after being sentenced.
Didier Dubreucq, 69, suffered from lung cancer and had to be hospitalized during the trial for the 2016 armed robbery.
Dubreucq was found guilty in May this year along with six other men and one woman.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison with five suspended – but released from jail due to time he had already spent behind bars.
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 it.
Dubreucq was found guilty of being one of the two men who bust into Kim’s hotel room, but he always denied any involvement in the heist.
He said during interrogation: “There’s a case of mistaken identity.
“Contrary to appearances in this case, I have nothing to do with it.”
All the defendants walked free because of their ailing health and advanced age, and the time they’ve already spent in prison ahead of the trial.
Judge David De Pas, who sentenced the gang, said the state of their health ‘’prohibits’’ them from being incarcerated and none of them were likely to reoffend.
He added: “It would have been unjust to take you to prison this evening.
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‘’You caused trauma, probably in a lasting way, but ‘rebuilt your lives and taken steps to reintegrate.’’
Post-sentencing, a spokesperson for the dependents’ lawyers said: “Health and age factors and the fact that they have spent periods in prison already means that none will go back inside a cell.
‘’All have returned to their homes.’’
Kim told the court that two men had come into her hotel room, bound her with zip ties and held her at gunpoint in 2016.
She testified that she feared they would rape and kill her.
They then made off with a stash of valuable jewellery – including Kim’s $4million engagement ring from Kanye West.
Only one necklace has ever been recovered from the stolen haul after it was dropped as the robbers fled the scene on bikes.
Lawyers for Kim said she was ‘’satisfied’’ with the result of the trial, and felt “justice had been served”.
Her barrister, Léonor Hennerick, said: ‘’It’s now done, she can move on.’’
The highest sentence of eight years in prison with five suspended was handed down to the gang’s 69-year-old ringleader Aomar Aït Khedache, who is deaf and can barely speak.
Kim’s tearful testimony
by Julia Atherley, from Paris
KIM Kardashian wept as she told a French courtroom that she thought she was about to die during a terrifying diamond heist before offering forgiveness to her robbers.
The celebrity, 44, had $10 million worth of jewellery stolen by a gang of masked robbers while she was tied up and had a gun held to her back during Paris fashion week in 2016.
Nine years after the raid, Kim made an emotional appearance at the trial of 10 people who are accused of being involved in the traumatic burglary.
Supported in court by her mum, Kris Jenner, 69, she broke down as she described the moment she thought the men who had broken into her hotel room were about to rape and shoot her.
Speaking of her terror as she was thrown onto her hotel bed at gunpoint, naked under her hotel robe, she said: “The robe opens up and everything is exposed on my bottom half.
“I was certain that was the moment he was going to rape me. He pulled me towards him and I said a prayer and tried to mentally prepare myself.”
She added: “I absolutely did think I was going to die.
“I was on the bed and then one of them had the gun up to me and at that point that’s when they were going to shoot me, that’s when I was certain that they would shoot me.”
Kim’s friend and stylist Simone Harouche, 45, was in a downstairs bedroom during the ordeal and told the court she could hear Kim screaming in “terror”.
She said: “I was afraid that she was raped or violated and I feared the worst.
“It was terror. What I heard specifically was ‘I have babies and I need to live’. That was what she kept saying. ‘Take everything, I need to live’.
It has taken almost 10 years for the 10 defendants to be brought to court, with Covid lockdowns and a backlog of terrorism cases in the French justice system blamed.
