TWO JEWEL RAIDS

Taranaki Daily News, 22 January 1935, Page 2

TWO JEWEL RAIDS

BURGLARS MAKE £lO,OOO HAUL. LOSS FROM COUNTRY MANSION. Two raids on country mansions, involving the theft of jewels worth altogether about £lO,OOO have been under police investigation in England. In each case a ladder was used to enter the premises. From the home of Lady Mabel BOnsor, widow of Sir H. Cosmo Bonsor, Bart., at TadwortL, Surrey,- jewels worth about £3OOO, including a valuable pearl necklace, were carried off. They were taken from a bedroom immediately above the library in ,vhich members of Lady Bonsor’s family were taking coffee and listening to the wireless. "The burglars brought treacle and brown paper with them,” stated a member of the household, “and after climbing the ladder which was taken from the garden placed a treacle ‘plaster’ on the window before smashing the glass.” Lady Bonsor was not in residence, and the house was being used by MajorGeneral and Mrs. Hildyard, her sori-in-law and daughter. The other place raided was the country house of Lord and Lady Desborough at Panshanger, Hertfordshire. A pearl necklace and several valuable brooches were among the things taken. Lord and Lady Desborough were dining at the United States Embassy at London at the time. "The night watchman when going on duty found a ladder which the burglars had apparently brought from a farm some three miles away,” stated Lady Desborough. “It was not long enough, and to reach the bedroom window they tied it to another one which they found in the garden.”