TOWIE sisters Sam and Billie Faiers wrote to an Old Bailey judge to plead for leniency for their stepfather – before seeing him jailed for his part in a £1.1 million gold bullion raid.
David Chatwood, 57, was sent to prison for four years on Friday after heading up a gang that used an inside man to steal the loot in a faked lorry hijacking in Belgium.
A letter from the sisters to Judge Richard Hone QC praised Chatwood, who is married to the sisters' mother, Sue Wells, for helping out in their Minnies Boutique shop in Brentwood.
Judge Hone said: "I should say in the case of David Chatwood I have considered a letter from his daughters saying they find him helpful in their shops."
The sisters, both stars of the ITV2 show The Only Way is Essex, and their mother waved to Chatwood, who gave the thumbs-up sign from the dock as he was led away to begin his sentence.
Chatwood, who lived in Sawyers Grove, Brentwood, had been released early from a 12-year jail term for dealing ecstasy at the time of the theft on October 4 last year.
Belgian police had discovered co- conspirator Brian Mulcahy, 47, from Westcliff, seemingly locked inside the trailer of his vehicle at a service station near Wetteren.
He had been transporting a consignment of 25 kg of gold bullion and 150 kg of silver grain from Vilvoorde back to the UK.
Mulcahy claimed he had been hijacked at gunpoint by a gang with Russian accents, who stole his cargo before imprisoning him in the trailer.
But most of the loot was found on October 13 stashed in a room at the de Keyser Hotel and an apartment in Antwerp, both of which had been booked by another of the gang, Stanley Rose, 75, of Iver Road, Pilgrims Hatch.
Silver grain worth nearly £29,000 has never been recovered.
Chatwood was arrested soon after at the home he shares with the two reality TV stars.
The gang plotted the snatch in June last year, but it was doomed to fail because key players were under police surveillance.
Chatwood was watched as he met up with Rose and fellow ringleader John Corley, from Kent, at pubs and restaurants in Brentwood, Grays and Dartford.
Judge Hone said: "This was a well-organised and sophisticated conspiracy to steal gold and silver bullion.
"Many of the defendants are professional and experienced criminals with bad records."
Corley was jailed for six years and Rose for four years.
Mulcahy, who had no previous convictions, received a three-and-a-half year prison term.
Chatwood was released on licence from a 12-year sentence, imposed in November 2001, for drugs and firearms offences at the time of the snatch.
The judge directed that the time he has spent in custody since he pleaded guilty last April should count towards his jail term – meaning he will effectively serve a sentence of 33 months.