£1m worth of treasures taken in raid at mansion
THE mansion of one of Wales’ richest families was raided by a balaclava-clad gang who stole more than £1m worth of jewellery, antique silver and ceramics.
The burglars scaled a 7ft wall to creep into the home of Port Talbotborn multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur and investor Sir Christopher Evans and snatch his wife’s entire jewellery collection. Lady Anne Evans was in the 30-room mansion at the time.
The thieves got into the sprawling property between 5pm and 8pm on Monday evening and emptied jewellery, antique silver and ceramics into log baskets before making their getaway.
Wearing hoods over their faces and blue surgical gloves, they emptied their haul into a dark-coloured Audi S5 and sped off.
It is thought they made their escape when they heard Lady Anne get up to take her dog, Scooter, for a walk.
Fighting back tears, she told Gloucestershire Live: “They have wiped out my entire jewellery collection. It’s serious money. There were hundreds of items and a lot of them were unbelievably special.
“Me and my son were in the house at the time. We were so lucky we didn’t come across them, these guys were prepared. I feel so devastated and violated.”
The raiders struck at the mansion in the Cotswolds village of Bibury. The mother said the property’s CCTV pictures picked up the raiders scaling a wall before gaining access through the conservatory.
Without the family’s five dogs and two parrots hearing a sound, they rifled drawers to take valuable items from the master bedroom, including Chanel and Gucci handbags.
Carrying everything they could find in at least half an hour, including a Boodle, Dunthorne pearshaped diamond ring and a pair of Wedgwood Fairyland vases, they dumped the baskets over the wall and fled in the getaway vehicle.
“Someone must have seen something,” said Lady Anne.
“Our house is adjacent to the road which runs through Bibury, opposite The Square. We believe they have headed off through the village towards Swindon. Anyone who is offered any of the items will know as they are very recognisable.
“It’s just the most appalling thing. We have had absolutely no sleep since and just want the police to catch who did this.”
Her daughter, Rhianna, 24, appealed for residents in the local community to report any sightings of the gang, who ran off towards the main road across the front lawn.
“My mum is absolutely inconsolable,” she said.
“If they are doing something as large-scale as this I dread to think what they would have done had they encountered someone. The one good thing is thankfully nothing more sinister happened.”
A Gloucestershire Police spokeswoman said they are investigating the high-value crime.
“We were called at 10.05pm on July 9 to reports of a burglary at a property in Bibury,” she said.
“The vehicle made off at speed in the direction of Cirencester.
“Anyone who saw suspicious activity in the area is asked to call 101.”