THIEVES’ HARVEST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 20 October 1942, Page 1

THIEVES’ HARVEST

PEARLS AND CATS London, Sept. 2fl. Black cats and precious gems are vying with one another for recognition as the commodity most eagerly sought after by thieves In the last seven weeks there have been eight big jewel robberies, the last of which was the theft from a West End hotel bedroom of a £25,000 pearl necklace while its owner. Miss Catherine Mary Willoughby-Smith, was absent. All these robberies appear to be the work of one gang, which on one occasion left a card in the true Edgar Wallace tradition, saying: “Sorry to have been a bother The eight thefts have probably yielded the thieves between £40.000 and £50.000. for jewellery is scarce owing' to the ban on manufacture and receivers are offering high prices. Cat stealing, too. is a rapidly growing industry, owing, it is believed, to the demand for cheap furs. Black cats are the most prized by thieves, for their skins fetch the best prices. Before the war Belgium and Holland were the chief sources of cat-skins, but now the British householders' pets are being called upon to supply the demand, with the result that local newspapers are carrying more and more advertisements for “lost” cats which are destined never again to grace their owners’ hearths.