'Bungling police went to wrong pawnbroker'

A WOMAN who had her jewellery stolen claims the police bungled the investigation by going to the wrong pawnbroker to recover the items.

Viv Ellis, of St Andrews Road, Hanwell, noticed her jewellery, which had been given to her by her grandmother, had been stolen just after the Easter weekend.

After the items were found to be on display in two Hounslow High Street pawnbrokers, the 42-year-old claims she discovered months later that only one store was visited after cops believed the pawnbroker was a single shop with two entrances a few metres apart.

Ms Ellis, a freelance TV producer, said: "I can't believe supposedly trained detectives can make such a mistake; I don't even know if my jewellery is still in the shop. I visited the shops and told the police immediately but they refused to believe me.

"I was reduced to tears on more than one occasion and although the jewellery is not worth a fortune, it has huge sentimental value. My grandmother was wonderful and I adored her and she gave me a beautiful pendant not long before she died. Now it's all gone forever because of the police's incompetence."

Sergeant Phil Norcutt of Ealing Borough Police, said: "Our Professional Standards Unit in Ealing Borough will look into every official complaint if such is received and will arrange a liaison with the party involved in due course"

A spokesman from H&T Pawnbrokers, one of the stores where the stolen jewellery was traced to, said: "Typically stolen goods are a very rare problem. We take the ID of all our customers, we record all transactions, take CCTV recordings, and have a good relationship with the police so in the event of any problems, they can come and ask us if anything has happened.

"We have a policy where we hold the goods for at least 28 days so they can be examined and we can track the transaction process to provide complete protection and ensure everything is above board.

"There is no legal requirement and individual operators have different policies but we thoroughly check good and don't dispose of them immediately."