LONDON JEWELLER DUPED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17276, 27 September 1919, Page 2 (Supplement)

LONDON JEWELLER DUPED.

PEARL NECKLACE STOLEN.

A fine necklace cf 94 pearls, weighing some 185 carats, with a diamond snap fastening, is the latest acquisition of an attractive-looking woman thief who has recently been victimising West End shopkeeoera in London.

The necklace In question was the property of Messrs. Hal ford, jewellers, of Pall. Mall, and its value is between £300 and £400.

The woman, fashionably dressed, en- ' tered Messrs. Halford's shop and gave her name as Mrs. Lyon Anderson, mentioning a West End address, which later inquiry to be false. She aeked fcr Mr. Halford, and, finding he was absent from business, remarked in a casual way that she was an old customer. She said that she wanted a pearl necklace, as she had been invited out to lunch at the Carlton and had no jewels to wear.

A number of necklaces were shown to her, and, after choosing one, she suggested that she might be allowed to wear it at the luncheon. She would return and "ay for the necklace later, she said, or the firm might send an employee to the address she had given.

Her conduct in the shop had been so devoid of suspicion for when the assistant went to fetch another necklace she moved away from the counter—that she was allowed to leave the shop wearing the necklace. When she did not return and a messenger was sent to the address the firm realised that it had been swindled.

This is the third time that this woman has nlayed such a trick on West End tradesmen. More than once, however, she has m«?t her match. On one occasion the removal of a glove revealed badly-kept fincer-nails, and at another time a suggestion of over-eagerness in her manner put the assistant, on their iraard.