DARING BANDITS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21145, 1 October 1930, Page 14

DARING BANDITS.

OVER £IOOO WORTH OP RINGS. Motor car bandits carried out a cleverly-planned £IOOO jewel raid in Picca-, dilly, London, on August 6 at a tim« when, a short distance away, thousands of people were waiting for Miss' Amy Johnson to pass on her tour through the" West End. The premises robbed - were . those of Messrs R. H. Halford and Sons, Ltd., which are opposite Green Park. . It is clear that the thieves, four in number, had not only carefully pre-arranged the raid,-but timed it so as to make their escape as easy as possible. Messrs Halford's shop window is in three sections. The main or centre part consists of a large square plate glass, and there is a long slanting section on either side. Inside the centre window was suspended on springs another large sheet of plate glass, inserted as an additional precaution against smash and grab raids. The idea was that if the centre window were smashed, the thieves would also have to break the inside swinging plate glass before they could get at - the valuable jewellery displayed on trays. \ The thieves took the line of least resistance. One of thera slipped a rope and a Bwivel around the handle of the shop door, in order to delay pursuit. A second man, armed with a short, heavy, largeheaded iron hammer wrapped in cottonwool - and tissue paper, smashed one of the eide windows. Passing his hand 1 through the hole and behind the Bwing- , ing glass, he grabbed a trayful of gold ; and diamond rings of the value of rather more than £IOOO. Both men then ran back with the booty to a motor car which had drawn up outside with the engine running. In a moment or two the car, with four men in it, had disappeared down Clargeß street. ■'-.-.. ' "When, r heard the smash," Mr Halford said, " I was showing a lady customer a £SOOO pendant which I had only half a minute before taken from thq window. } "I and my assistants rushed to the door, but could not open it, as it had been fastened with rope. By vigorously pulling, however, we managed to snap the rope, and ran up Piccadilly and into Clarges street. By that time all trace of the thieves, had been lost. Half a dozen different descriptions were given of the car which informants thought had been used by the thieves. W e managed," however, to get the number of the actual car, and the police arc acting accordingly. ' v ep v few people were in the immediate neighbourhood at the time, as everyone had gone toward Hyde Park corner to get a glimpse of Miss Johnson. It seems pretty certain that, in. making their plans, the bandits took advantage of the absence of the usual crowd in Piccadilly., In all probability they would have taken the £SOOO pendant had I not removed it from the window only a few moments previously." *