Prince Rowe is jailed for stealing from footballer in hotel room 'honeypot'
A man who burst into a hotel room to film a Premier League footballer in bed with a woman who was not his partner has been jailed for 16 months.
Prince Rowe, from Birmingham, created a "honeypot set up" with three others to then sell the story to the media, Bristol Crown Court heard. The footballer, who cannot be named, fled out of a window in his underwear and sought shelter in a restaurant. Rowe, 38, was convicted of stealing the player's watch and tracksuit. He was found guilty of two counts of theft following a three-week trial in October. Natalie Wood, who was in the room with the footballer, former Take Me Out contestant Tyrone Coleman, and his brother Nathan were all cleared of conspiracy to blackmail. The court heard Ms Wood had previously met the footballer after he contacted her on social media. She decided to expose him after discovering he was in a relationship. They planned to capture incriminating footage to sell, rather than demand money from him, jurors were told. After Rowe entered the hotel room, the player escaped by jumping from the window and down a fire escape, before retreating into the restaurant. It was a "spur of the moment" decision by Rowe to steal his Rolex watch worth £23,000 and £1,000 tracksuit, prosecuting, Simon Jones said. Jurors were told he was wearing the tracksuit when he was arrested waiting to board a flight to Dubai days later. The watch was discovered at a friend's home. Judge Martin Picton said: "It remains the case that you and the others set him up and did so with careful planning and some degree of determination. "You took the opportunity of bursting into the hotel room to get footage you wanted to sell to get your hands on his watch." Meyrick Williams, defending Rowe, said: "The morality of it might be bad, but he's not here to be sentenced on the morality of why he was there in the first place." Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.