Thanks guys. Almost 2 years later and its still a kick in the b*lls!
As his payment was from a dutch bank to my UK bank I would expect it to be different from a normal transfer and probably has a bigger window to reverse it. Like many people I didn't know you could do this.

I have my fingers crossed they show up one day and they are reported on just about every platform possible, its just if the thief has sold them on already or if there sat somewhere with many other luxury items he's stolen.
I was told his sister in Holland is sat on a fortune, piles of luxury clothing, jewellery and much more so they might pop up in NL at some point, I check Chrono24 a few times a week in case they come up on there.

The guy is due to be released from the jail in Belgium this month (might have already happened) and then he will be moved to Holland for other scams but should be out later this year and I will put my life on the matter that he will be back to it.

This is his and his families career, doing the odd year or two in jail is just part of the job and its never stopped him before.

The only upside is that I have been told he scammed a few 'not so friendly' Russians and some similar Dutch people before he went down so his release from jail might not go as easy as he planned and I think its been tough when he's been in there... but thats another story!