Tuk-tuk wine thief avoids jail after returning some stolen bottles
The pedicab driver who stole more than £30,000 worth of fine wine and Champagne from London restaurants has avoided prison after returning part of his haul.
A pedicab driver who stole fine wine worth more than £31,000 from top London restaurants has avoided jail after returning some of the bottles.
Iuliu Kubola, 61, of Islington, admitted six burglaries across restaurants in Mayfair, Belgravia and the City of London and was sentenced to 20 months in custody, suspended for two years, at the Old Bailey on Monday.
The case was first reported by the drinks business in July, when Kubola pleaded guilty to stealing £24,000 worth of fine wine from Piazza Italiana on Threadneedle Street, transporting the bottles in a wheelie bin attached to his tuk-tuk.
Wine returned shows ‘remorse’
Judge Mark Lucraft KC told the court that Kubola had demonstrated “remorse” by helping police recover some of the stolen alcohol.
“To cut a lengthy story short, some wine has been recovered and there are a total of 32 unopened bottles of wine, they are valued at approximately £6,687,” the judge said.
He noted, however, that “significant loss and damage” had been caused during the raids, particularly at Piazza Italiana, where 73 bottles were taken in a single night.
At an earlier hearing, defence barrister Daisy Kell-Jones said her client knew where some of the stolen wine was and was “very keen for it to be returned”.
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A string of high-end burglaries
Between May and June 2025, Kubola targeted three restaurants: Comptoir Café and Wine in Mayfair, Oliveto and Olivo in Belgravia, and Piazza Italiana in the City of London.
On 10 May, he stole wine worth around £6,000 and £200 in cash from Comptoir Café and Wine. Days later, he hit Oliveto and Olivo, stealing more bottles and cash. He later returned to Piazza Italiana multiple times, stealing £680 worth of wine and £55 in cash on 15 June, before an alarm foiled a further break-in on 19 June.
CCTV footage showed him using a wheelie bin to ferry the wine from cellars to his pedicab.
Kubola was arrested on 22 June, just metres from Piazza Italiana, while riding his tuk-tuk. Officers found a bottle of Villa Bucci wine, Laurent-Perrier Champagne, Jack Daniel’s, a half-empty bottle of Shaw and Smith Chardonnay, and vodka, along with burglary tools including an angle grinder, spanner, screwdrivers and crowbars.
When questioned by police about what he intended to do with the stolen wine, Kubola reportedly replied: “The wine is to drink, no?”
Claims of unpaid wages and alcohol problems
In mitigation, Ms Kell-Jones told the court that Kubola had previously worked for two of the restaurants he targeted and claimed he had not been paid for his work. She added that her client struggled with a drinking problem, which contributed to his “reckless and stupid decision” to commit the thefts.
Kubola did not dispute the allegations but questioned the valuation of the stolen goods during his police interview, saying: “It was not that much. I have had a restaurant in Italy for 20 years. It did not add up to that much.”
Although some bottles have been recovered, the majority remain missing. The judge said efforts to trace the remaining wine are ongoing.
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