St James's Palace cat burglar is shot dead

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Italian mafioso politics continue to be in the spotlight in the UK following last week's revelations that the City of London police service is reopening the Roberto Calvi - "God's banker" - case as a murder investigation, with today's anouncement that the burglar accused of stealing sensitive letters between Prince Charles and his live in lover Camilla parker Bowles has been found shot dead at home in Italy:


The Guardian writes:


An Italian cat burglar whose most spectacular theft took place in St James's Palace in London was shot dead yesterday at his home in north-west Italy, in an apparent gangland killing.
Renato Rinino, 41, was killed by a single shot to the head as he lay in bed in the morning. His brother, Paolo, who opened the door of their Savona apartment to the lone gunman, was shot in the chest and elbow. In February 1994 Mr Rinino stole £50,000-worth of jewellery from Prince Charles's private residence after climbing up scaffolding and forcing a window. The prince was on a skiing holiday in Switzerland at the time, while builders renovated his apartment.

Mr Rinino said he only realised the identity of his victim when he saw a photo of the prince on a desk. His haul included five gold tie-pins, eight pairs of cuff-links, two silver boxes, and gold watches. According to his own account, Mr Rinino also took private letters between the prince and Camilla Parker-Bowles, which have never been recovered. He said he used toothpaste tubes to smuggle the loot to Italy. He waited three years, until the crime was covered by a statute of limitations under Italian law, before boasting to the press of his exploit. The valuables were returned in 1998.

A flamboyant character, Mr Rinino continued to have problems with the law, spending several spells in prison for theft. On Saturday he was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment for failing to respect a magistrate's order not to leave the city of Savona. He had been arrested on Friday night as he dined with friends in a Genoa restaurant. Investigators do not suspect a delayed vendetta on the part of the royal family. Vincenzo Scolastico, Savona's chief public prosecutor, said that initial inquiries were focusing on members of the local underworld.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,12576,1061800,00.html

The last time "royal missing correspondence" was in the news was at the trial of Pricess Di's ex-Butler, when it was revealed that 'sensitive documents' had 'gone missing' after her death and that her sisters were frantically fighting a rearguard action against public disclosure regarding her private life.