Clayton David Love to spend nearly a decade behind bars for Albion Park opal heist

Clayton David Love, 44, was sentenced in Wollongong District Court today for his role in a daring opal heist that involved almost a dozen accomplices and sent police on a chase to Victoria to hunt down the men involved.

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Six months after pleading guilty and two and a half years after the fateful night, Love learnt his fate via audio visual link from jail.

On February 10, 2021, Love and three other men arrived at the Albion Park Rail home of a former opal miner who had recently listed his opal collection for sale online.

Arriving in accomplice Lachlan Alcock's Ford XR6, the men broke in and wielding a sawn-off shotgun and a machete terrorised the miner and his partner in their home.

The thieves made off with the collection of more than 1000 opals worth nearly half a million dollars after a coordinated two minute operation.

After returning home to Dapto and showing off the opals to his then-partner, Love and other accomplices made calls to Wollongong jewellery stores and dealers as police began to track the group's calls.

However only two months later disputes began to break out between the group about how the proceeds would be divided.

Intercepted phone calls recorded by police include Alcock demanding "the big one" from Love, and Love threatening his accomplice in return.

In May 2021 Love was arrested for unrelated other matters, and continued to talk to his mother and girlfriend about the opal heist while in jail.

Police raided Love's address in May, as well as his mother and girlfriend's homes in Horsley and Dapto and found opals, drug paraphernalia, a black balaclava and a rifle bag.

Police later charged Love's mother, Deborah Love with burying a gun, a phone and an opal at her house in July on Love's directions from jail.

In December last year, Deborah Love was convicted and sentenced for hindering an investigation and possessing an unauthorised firearm.

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Meanwhile, another accomplice, Wollongong man Ricky Munn went to Victoria to find a buyer for the stolen opals, taking samples with him.

On May 11, 2021 Victoria police arrested Munn at a St Kilda hotel apartment and recovered a large number of opals that had yet to find a buyer.

He was extradited to NSW where he was convicted and sentenced in Wollongong District Court in March 2022.

After being released from jail on the other matters in July 2021, Love was arrested by police later that year and hit with charges stemming from the opal heist.

For nearly a year and a half Love maintained his innocence, but pleaded guilty to charges including special aggravated break and enter and commit serious indictable offence, knowingly deal with proceeds of crime and drug and firearm related charges in March this year.

In sentencing Love, Judge Andrew Haesler noted that the army veteran had turned to self-medicating his post-traumatic stress disorder with methylamphetamines, escalating to a point where he was using the drug on a daily basis.

Love and his accomplices got to know each other through the use of drugs.

"For a period Love lived outside the law and his actions had consequences," Judge Haesler said.

This culminated in the "planned" and "brutal" raid, Judge Haesler said, which required a "severe punishment" for the "grave offence".

Taking into account Love's guilty plea, Judge Haesler sentenced him to nine years and four months, with a non parole period of six years and one month.

With time already served, Love will be eligible for release on December 9, 2027.

Sitting in the prison, Love nodded at his mother, who was in the courtroom wiping away tears.

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