ORGANISED JEWEL ROBBERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18897, 20 December 1924, Page 11

ORGANISED JEWEL ROBBERY

THE WERNHER COLLECTION. HOW THEFT WAS INSPIRED A COVETOUS CONNOISSEUR. By Telegraph— Association— Copyright. A. and N.Z. LONDON. Dec. 18. The mystery regarding the loss and subsequent return of the Wernher jewel collection deepens. The authorities r.t | Scotland Yard now admit, that the pro- | perty is in safe keeping and not damaged, but maintain strict secrecy with reference to the method of recovery. It is known, however, that the detective officers in charge of the investigations obtained remarkable information a few weeks after the theft, of which only a few officers were made aware, the others continuing the investigations. The Evening .Standard says the first , development leading to the return of the j property was the receipt of an inquiry ! by telephone whether the sum of £5000 I offered for the return of the jewellery j i could possibly be. increased to £10,000. Scotland Yard was immediately in- j formed of the inquiry, but continues to i draw a veil over the next steps, but ad- j mitted eventually that the stolen trea- ; sures had been regained intact, and that j no attempt bad been made to remove a ! single diamond, emerald or ruby from the priceless figures in winch they were set. The Central News gives the followI nig explanation of the theft and the | return of the jewellery, which it deI scribes as the most romantic in the history of modern crime. A wealthy American collector of jewellery arrived in England during April and inspected j every collection in England and Scotland. He was allowed to visit the Wernher collection at Bath House at I least a dozen times, and apparently | became imbued with covelousness. Realising the hopelessness of inducing j Lady Ludlow to sell, ho returned to ■ America and hired three skilled New j York burglars to steal the collection. I The trio arrived in London on Juno j 5, and were allowed to inspect the colI lection as connoisseurs, thus gaining j valuable knowledge of the approaches to ! Bath House. I It is now known that when the trio I stole tho jewellery on Juno 11 they j spent at least an hour iu the house, and i removed the property inside a largo i cushion. I They then took the swag to France ; in a private yacht, reached New York ' from Cherbourg and placed the proj perty in tho New York Safe Deposit for j their employer, who died on the day of | their arrival in New York. Owing to ! the difficulties of disposal the collection I became valueless to the cracksmen. j Ultimately by engaging lawyers in I New York and London they obtained the | reward of £5000 offered for the. safe roi turn of the collection. | It is believed the trio received £9000 j in advance from tho eccentric collector, j and were to have received £50,000 when | tho collection was delivered.