A part-time Dominos pizza delivery man with a gambling addiction has been jailed for stealing up to £30,000 worth of designer watches, jewellery, gadgets and bank cards from gym lockers across London.

Rajul Patel, 35, used a Virgin Active gym membership pass to gain access to locker rooms at branches in Wimbledon, Wandsworth, Clapham, Streatham, Notting Hill, Kensington and Mayfair. 

The married father-of-one, from Galsworthy Road, Kingston, stole goods including iPhones, Bose headphones, sentimental jewellery including a wedding ring, Rolex watches and designer purses as gymgoers exercised.

One father’s stolen phone contained irreplaceable pictures from the first year of his daughter’s life.

Expecting a custodial sentence, Patel brought along a stroller suitcase at Isleworth Crown Court yesterday where he was sentenced for eight counts of burglary and one count of theft.

Having pleaded guilty at the earliest occasion, he was told he must serve half of a 32 month prison term.

Judge Anne Molyneux said: “The goods that you stole were often of a high value – roughly £25,000 to £30,000 but far more importantly they were often a high sentimental and emotional value to those whom they belonged – it must have been clear that this would have been the case.

“These offences were planned, these premises were targeted – this was organised and took place over a number of months.

"Whether or not this began as an opportunity is irrelevant.”

Patel's spree lasted three months between September and November last year and he was only arrested after he was seen going through lockers at the Kensington gym.

The court heard Patel had been given a suspended sentence in 2010 after he cloned cards at a hotel check in or stole them from bedrooms as guests enjoyed breakfast at a hotel he ran with his wife.

The court also heard Patel, who has a degree in computing, but worked as a pizza delivery man after his convictions, had debts of up to £40,000 due to his gambling addiction.

Defence counsel Kathy Hirst said: “Whether it was the pressure of coming from such a high achieving family or whether gambling as an addiction is something that laid dormant and took hold of him – it was that background that caused him to fall into trouble.

“He took those items, he sold them to take care of his debts but mostly to gamble.

"Although a lesson has been learned late, it has been learned now.”