DUKE'S HOUSE ROBBED

Evening Star, Issue 21711, 4 May 1934, Page 11

DUKE'S HOUSE ROBBED

BURGLARS WITH LADDERS JEWELS WORTH £4,000 TAKEN. It was revealed on February 20 that a big jewel robbery had taken place at Walton Leigh, the country mansion at Addlcstone, near Chertsey, Surrey, which is occupied by Mr H. P. Hunloke and his wife, Lady Anne Hunloke, the youngest daughter of the Duke of Devonshire. Lady Anno Hunloke left her bedroom after dressing for dinner. Half an hour later a maid discovered that the room had been ransacked and about £4,000 worth of jewellery stolen. The thieves had borrowed two' ladders from an outhouse in the grounds, fastened them together, and entered the bedroom through a window at the. side of the house; The joined ladders were found lying across a path. “ No sound was heard at all,” Mr Hunloke said. “ The thieves must have worked very quickly, A maid had to go to Lady Anne’s room half an hour after we sat down to dinner. She found the room in a state of upheaval. “ Drawers were open and their contents were scattered about the room. The window was wide open, and the ladders, still tied together, had been removed,” Motor car tyre tracks were found by the police at the side of the road near the entrance to Walton Leigh next ticy. It is believed that the robbery was carried out by a gang of London thieves who used a motor car. Walton _ Leigh is a large country mansion standing in extensive- grounds, and was for many years occupied by Sir John Humphrey. It was only the previous week that it was announced that Mr H. P. Hunloke and Lady Anne Hunloke had left Montagu Square, London, to go to Walton Leigh, which they have taken for six months. Mr Hunloke is the son of Major Sir Philip Hunloke. Groom-in-Waiting to the King and Master of the King's yacht Britannia. s