Boris Johnson’s mother loses Fabergé egg to ‘antiques scam’
Daughter reveals that con men visited flat after saying they wanted to buy old clocks and watches
The men told police the elderly people were ‘vague’ and must have forgotten they had sold the items
BORIS JOHNSON’S mother was conned by two men who came into her home as antique dealers and took a precious Fabergé-style egg.
Charlotte Johnson Wahl, 74, contacted the men after spotting adverts in The Lady magazine offering cash for old broken clocks and watches.
But once inside her home they took a miniature Fabergé-style egg that had been in the family for generations.
Rachel Johnson, the Foreign Secretary’s sister, described the incident in her weekly newspaper column, and revealed that she heard the news after police officers interviewed her mother for two hours last week.
The men arrived at Mrs Johnson Wahl’s London flat, where she stays with a carer, but apparently were not interested in the watch she wished to sell and asked if she had anything else. They paid £200 in cash for some cufflinks, studs and a broken gold bracelet. She also showed them the egg, containing a lock of hair from a distant relative, but told them it was not for sale as it was a precious family item.
The men also asked if Mrs Johnson Wahl, who achieved success as an artist, had any “cheap” paintings to sell, her daughter revealed.
While one of the men sat chatting to her, the other roamed the flat taking photographs, Ms Johnson said. After they left, she realised the egg was gone and reported it to police.
The pair were arrested and officers told the Johnson family the men had taken precious items from a number of elderly people including a 96-year-old woman in her home. Ms Johnson said the egg had come to her mother from her mother-in-law on the Hungarian side of the family. She said: “My mother was amazed by the diligence of the officers and the egg will be returned to her after the court case.”
In her column for The Mail on Sunday, Ms Johnson said the men had claimed in each case that the elderly people involved had been “vague” and “must have forgotten” that they had in fact sold the items to them.
She said her mother, who has Parkinson’s disease and uses a wheelchair, was a “sitting duck” for telephone and online scams. She revealed her mother was once conned into giving out her bank details, and had been left “very worried” by her recent experience.
Ms Johnson also expressed her frustration that The Lady magazine, which she used to edit, was continuing to publish such ads.
The journalist warned that older people were at a disadvantage in finding competitive deals online for gas and electricity because customers needed to go through “endless hoops”.
She added that the Government was “not helping” – a bond being launched by National Savings & Investments this month will be the first to not let savers apply via post or over the telephone.