JEWEL ROBBERY.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1924, Page 8

JEWEL ROBBERY.

MYSTERY OF THEIR LOSS. A REMARKABLE CASE. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, Dec. 18. The Post reports that the Wernher jewels never left the <country and were stolen on payment of a reward of £5OOO. The police have no knowledge of these negotiations and are still searching for the thieves.

The mystery regarding the loss and subsequent return of the jewellery deepens. Scotland Yard now admits that the property is in safe keeping, and not damaged. It maintains strict secrecy with reference to the method of recovery. It is known, however, that the officers in charge of the investigations obtained remarkable information a few weeks after the theft, of which only a few officers were made aware, others continuing the investigations. The Evening Standard declare that the first development leading to the return of the property was the receipt of a telephone inquiry whether the £5OO reward offered for the return of the jewellery could possibly be increased to £lO,OOO. Scotland Yard was immediately informed of the inquiry, but continues to draw a veil over the next steps, only admitting that eventually the stolen treasures were regained intact. No attempt had been made to remove a single diamond, emerald or ruby from the priceless figures in which they were studded. The Central News gives the following explanation of the theft and return of the jewellery, which it describes as the most romantic in the history of modern crime.

A wealthy American jewellery collector arrived in England during April and inspected every collection in England and Scotland. He was allowed to visit the Wernher collection at Bath House at least a dozen times. He apparently became imbued with covetousness and, realising the hoplessness of inducing Lady Ludlow to sell, he returned to America and hired three skilled New York burglars to come and steal the collection.

The trio arrived in London on June 5 and were allowed to inspect the collection as connoisseurs, thus gaining valuable knowledge of the approaches to Bath House.

It is now known that when the trio stole the jewellery on June 11 they spent at least an hour in the house and removed the property inside a large cushion. They then took the swag to France in a private yacht, reached New York from Cherbourg and placed the property in the New York Safe Deposity. On the day of their arrival in New York, before they could complete th e contract by delivery to their employer, the latter died. Owing to difficulties in the disposal of the collection it became valueless to the cracksmen, and ultimately, through lawyers in New York and London, they obtained £5OOO reward for its safe return.

It is believed the trio received £9OOO in advance from the eccentric collector, and were to have received £50,000 when th e collection was delivered.