Thieves drilled through the wall of a derelict property to steal £250,000 worth of luxury handbags from a boutique, it has emerged.
Dress Cheshire has a sophisticated security system in place, but three intruders were able to bypass it by smashing through a 3ft-wide chimney stack.
ANDREW PRICE /VIEW FINDER PICTURES
Christine Colbert, 58, the owner of the store, told the Daily Mail: “I went to bed about 10.30pm on Sunday so I was asleep when we got a call from the monitoring company.
“I immediately switched on the CCTV on my phone and I could see a man crouching down and bricks all over the floor. I said to my husband Gary, ‘We’re being robbed’. I was panicking.”
Christine Colbert and, below, her shop
ANDREW PRICE/VIEW FINDER PICTURES
In a statement on social media, Colbert said that the gang had gained entry by boring a 1m x 0.5m wide hole through the wall which took over an hour to drill.
• Times readers on how they had to ‘steal’ back their own cars
In all, 55 items — some worth as much as £25,000 — were taken by the burglars from the premises in Prestbury on Sunday night, it was reported.
One of the raiders used a duvet cover as a pouch to carry off the pre-owned designer bags, from brands including Hermès, Chanel, Gucci, Dior and Louis Vuitton.
A Hermès Birkin 35 Togo handbag worth £15,995 was stolen
ANDREW PRICE/VIEW FINDER PICTURES
A Hermès Kelly 32 Crocodile handbag worth £23,995 was also among the items taken
ANDREW PRICE/VIEW FINDER PICTURES
Colbert added: “I’m absolutely devastated. They’ve stolen our beautiful handbags to the value of a quarter of a million pounds. This is a very serious crime for Cheshire police. There were three men. This was very well planned and organised.”
The luxury boutique owner praised Cheshire police, which is investigating the incident, for arriving “within minutes”.
• Is the UK getting more lawless? We examined the crime data
Detective Constable Clare Slattery, of Macclesfield CID, said: “Our inquiries are ongoing, and we would urge anyone who witnessed this incident or saw anything suspicious to get in touch with us. The same goes for anyone with dashcam footage or CCTV which might aid our investigation.
“We also want to hear from anyone who thinks they may have information regarding the whereabouts of the items that were stolen.”
Customers and local householders have since offered their condolences to Colbert in the aftermath of the “absolutely awful” burglary.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
