An elderly Camberwell couple have been burgled by a “cowardly” criminal who masqueraded as a council plumber to steal almost all their highly-sentimental jewellery.
The crafty thief “charmed” the innocent grandparents with talk of ornaments and music while an accomplice is believed to have ransacked their bedroom, on Thursday, October 20.
Among the dozens of items stolen from Joan, 75, was a bible-shaped locket – a gift to commemorate her beloved twin brother, Lesley, who died following a heart attack in July.
“I haven’t stopped crying,” says Joan. “All I want is for this man to give me back my bible locket and rings. I don’t care how you do it, just give it back. That’s all I’m asking for.”
Joan and her husband Michael, 77, married for forty years, were settling down for dinner at around 1.30pm at their Comber Estate home when they heard a door knock.
Joan answered to a 6ft white man in his forties, wearing a blue baseball cap and workman’s gear. He claimed to have accidentally caused a flood while working on an upstairs flat and said he needed to check their home for damp.
“He was so convincing and very charming that we invited him in and offered him a cup of tea and a coffee,” said Joan.
The couple say he came in and left the door ajar, which they now believe allowed an accomplice to sneak in and go into their bedroom.
The man spent an hour in their home, happily nattering in the kitchen about Joan’s ornament collection, their family photos and his love of ‘60s music.
“At several points, Michael wanted to go down to the bedroom but the man would stop him and say ‘don’t get yourself up – you enjoy your eats’. He was distracting us, keeping us talking,” said Joan.
At one point he asked the couple to turn the radio up, which they think was to ensure they couldn’t hear a co-conspirator rummaging around.
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He refused all their offers of food, tea and coffee, which they now believe was to avoid leaving any DNA evidence.
The man finally left the house, departing with bogus assurances about returning on Monday to fix their imaginary damp problem.
The couple finally went into their bedroom and found it had been ransacked and that dozens of jewellery items were missing.
This included a bible-shaped gold locket and a silver ring with a heart-shaped jewel with ‘I love you’ engraved on the inside – both gifts to Joan after the death of her twin, Lesley.
“It was so sudden when my brother died. We had a call saying he’d had a heart attack. We saw him in hospital and he said he was hurting but said that he was alright. Then he died two days afterwards,” says grief-stricken Joan.
She added: “I had a breakdown. We were twins and I was so close to him. We did everything together. He was loved by everyone. There wasn’t a nasty bone in his body.”
Since their ordeal, Joan and Michael are often scared to answer the phone, fearing a scammer is at the other end. Joan has missed a hospital appointment as a result.
The Met Police, which has since distributed leaflets around the estate warning of distraction burglaries, said: “This was a cowardly and intrusive crime committed against a couple in their 70s.
“The items stolen from a bedroom were of huge sentimental value but of little value to the thief. Detectives are following lines of enquiry to identify the burglar and the couple are being supported by local officers.
“Anyone with relevant information is urged to contact police on 101 and quote CAD 3765/20OCT22.”