£500k gems heist as runners jogged past
THIEVES who tunnelled into a jeweller’s shop in a £ 500,000 raid ensured they left few clues, it emerged yesterday.
The gang daubed paint on security cameras and tidied up after themselves.
They grabbed diamond rings, bracelets, necklaces and pendants from display cabinets at George Attenborough & Son as thousands of runners taking part in Sunday’s London Landmark Half Marathon jogged past.
Police have not released details of the items stolen, although the firm’s range includes Cartier diamond pieces worth £80,000.
The gang are believed to have spent much of the weekend drilling into the historic premises in Fleet Street, after breaking into a William Hill betting shop next door while both businesses were shut on Saturday. They gained entry to the bookies through a rear ground floor fire escape.
One of the gang is thought to have reached through the letterbox and pulled on the bar to open the fire door, which did not have an alarm.
They then used white paint to obscure security cameras inside. The thieves tunnelled from the bookies into the jeweller’s, a 176-year-old business which still has many original Victorian fittings. They made two holes through the thin party wall . The first in a basement door proved too low to allow access to the jeweller’s.
So they drilled a large square hole further up the stairwell.
Any noise this made is likely to have been masked by crowds cheering on more than 13,000 runners competing in the half marathon. The gang made sure they removed all their tools. Police were not alerted until 2am on Monday.
The Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad is handling the investigation. Detective Superintendent Simon Moring said: ‘This was an audacious burglary, and there are elements which appear to have been planned with some precision. I would urge people who were in the area [on Saturday or Sunday] to think back. It may be that you saw something and now realise it may have been out of place.’