BOBBED HAIR THIEF.

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 66286, 5 October 1925, Page 6

BOBBED HAIR THIEF.

VALUABLE JEWELLERY HAULS YOUNG GIRL SENT TO PRISON A pretty, demurc-looking girl of 22, with brown bobbed hair, sat in the dock at the London sessions recently smiling placidly while the story of her remarkable exploits as a jewel thief were unfolded by the police. She accepted her sentence of 21 months’ imprisonment without a murmur, and left the dock with an expression of mingled amusement and boredom. Known to the authorities as Edith Burgess, she says she is a milliner; but there is a mystery about her, and she has steadily refused to throw any light upon her early history. It is known, however, that the girl is of Scottish parentage, and she has used her natural charm and knowledge of the ways of society people to enable her to secure valuable hauls of jewellery from West-end mansions and hotels. For months she has led the police in the Kensington district a regular dance, and the extent of her criminal activities may be gauged by the fact that since she fell into the hands of Detective-Sergeant Welsby and Detective Bowels an epidemic of jewel thefts from guests staying at high-class hotels has abruptly ceased.

Described by the police as “the most sought-after girl in England,” and by Mr Frederick Levy, prosecuting counsel, as “a systematic and persistent hotel thief,” Edith Bux-gess was caught after her 13th coup, and she admitted having stolen £2OOO worth of jewellery. Some of this was recovered, but the’ girl had got rid of most of the stolen gems to a reciever, who has not been traced. GUEST AND HOUSEMAID Edith Burges might truly be termed a girl Raffles, as on more than one occasion she has been a guest at an hotel, and after dining and becoming friendly with other guests, has swiftly moved from room to room, whisked jewellery into an attache case which she cai’ried empty for the purpose, and then unostentatiously disappeared to deposit her booty in a tube station cloakroom until she could hand it over to a “fence.” This amazing girl found it useful at times to adopt the humble role of housemaid. Always neat, trim and efficient, she quickly gained her mistress’ confidence, and, indeed, nobody would dream from her appeai’ance that she was a clever and unscrupulous jewel thief. While working at the town house of Lady Guiggisbei-g, in King Sti’eet, St. James, for instance, she was quietly operating at various hotels in the district, and finally left with jewellery and-money worth £3IG, belonging to her mistress herself. Then she made an hotel in Lexharn Gai’dens her headquarters, and began systematically to rob others within a considerable l’adius. Arriving in the early evening, she would book a room as near the top as possible, on the pretext that che suffered from chronic headaches and wanted all the fresh air she could get. Her real purpose, of course, was to avoid suspicion if seen on any of the floors up which she had to pass to reach her room. MODUS OPERANDI Depositing her jewel case on the dressing table, the girl usually rang for a maid and asked to be shown to the bath-room, so that she could prepare for dinner. Carelessly protruding from her jewel case were two or three pound notes, on which she depended to inspire confidence in the maid who attended her, and to whom she would explain that she was dining out. The sounding of the dinner gong was to the girl a signal that the coast was clear for her to begin her hunt for loose jewellery, and this she carried out with almost incredible swiftness. Bui-gess worked alone, and though thefts bearing her “hall mark” have been committed all over the country, she has only once before been in the hands of the police. On that occasion, while posing as a par-lour-maid, she stole money and jewellery, but was simply placed on probation in the hope that she would reform. Since then Burgess has extended her activities with a cunning which made the work of the police very difficult, and this was recognised by Sir Robert Wallace, K.C., in his warm commendation of the officers concerned.