Stolen Jewellery Valued At £4500 Recovered

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28890, 9 May 1959, Page 12

Stolen Jewellery Valued At £4500 Recovered

Watches and jewellery with a retail valu*? of about £4500, stolen from the premises of Dominion Imports (N.Z.) Ltd., at 87 Victoria street, Christchurch, some time during the night of April 15, have been recovered by the Criminal Investigation Branch and a juvenile has been charged with the offence. The articles stolen included a woman’s diamond wrist-watch valued at between £350 and £4OO, 142 marcasite women’s wristwatches, two men’s wrist-watches and 27 marcasite bracelets. One woman’s marcasite watch has not been recovered, with about £l6 taken from a till which was forced open. A reward of £ 100 was ottered through the solicitors of Dominion Imports (N.Z.) Ltd., for the recovery of the stolen property, but no decision has yet been made about the allocation of the reward. Very slight damage has * been done to some of the recovered property. Inquiries were made by deteci fives under the direction of DetecJ I tive-Sergeant T. Thomson. The value of the property,

all of which was insured, is about £2500.

Only one person was involved in the robbery and he was charged this week.

The theft was discovered by employees of the firm when th y arrived at work at 8.30 a.m. on April 16, A first-storey, rear side window was open. It appeared that the thief had taken time to search the warehouse and get the best items. The office was also ransacked.

After gaining access through a window opening to the rooftop of an adjoining building the thief apparently first searched the office before going to the warehouse where he removed jewellery and watches from boxes on the shelves. The entire stock of the items concerned had been taken.