‘Rolex Ripper’ women prey on elderly golfers

TWO female fraudsters nicknamed the “Rolex Rippers” are suspected of targeting elderly men for their expensive watches at golf clubs around the south of England.

The women, whose identities are not known, are believed to have struck at least 14 times in Dorset and Hampshire, prompting police to warn men to be on their guard while wearing high-value watches.

Several thefts have taken place in the car parks of golf clubs and most victims have been lone men in their 70s.

Both women are said to be aged in their 20s or 30s and between 5ft 2ins and 5ft 9ins tall with dark hair and eastern European accents.

In several of the thefts, the pair have posed as charity workers with clipboards and have stolen watches from their victims as they sign a petition. In other incidents, the thieves have simply ripped the watches off their owners’ wrists.

Alan Bruce, who lost his £14,000 gold Rolex, described the pair as “highly trained professionals”. Mr Bruce, a 63-year-old marine engineer, was walking in Wimborne on July 15 when he was approached by the pair. He said: “One had a clipboard and the taller one was making out she was deaf and they wanted signatures for a petition for a deaf centre.

“I signed it with my left hand, which was the same hand my watch was on, and one of them then grabbed hold of me and went to hug me. I pushed her off.

“I walked around the corner and realised they had taken my watch. By the time I went back they had gone.”

The spate of robberies is believed to have started on May 19 at Stoneham Golf

‘I walked around the corner and realised they had taken my watch’

Club, near Southampton, followed by an incident a week later at Wellow Golf Club, near Romsey, Hants. Both times the pair had their victims sign a petition before stealing their watches.

On May 30 in Poole, close to Parkstone Golf Club, one of the women grabbed the arm of a man in his 70s before forcefully removing his Rolex.

A male victim in his 80s said that on June 11 a woman got into his car where she grabbed his arm. Only later did he realise his watch had been taken. Dorset Police have not linked the thefts but acknowledged “a number of incidents of a similar nature”.