Jewellery worth £10m stolen from north London home

Jewellery worth more than £10m as well as designer handbags worth £150,000 have been stolen from a house in St John's Wood in London.

A white man aged in his late 20s to 30s had broken into a house in Avenue Road between 17:00 and 17:30 GMT on 7 December by climbing in through a second-floor window, the Metropolitan Police said.

He took the Hermes Crocodile Kelly handbags, £15,000 in cash as well as items of jewellery worth £10.4m that included unique pieces.

The homeowners have offered a £500,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.

Police added the suspect had worn a dark hoodie, cargo pants and grey baseball cap and had kept his face covered.

Among the items taken were distinctive pieces such as two De Beers butterfly diamond rings, pink sapphire earrings shaped like butterflies from Katherine Wang, and a gold, diamond and sapphire Van Cleef necklace.

Avenue Road links the Swiss Cottage and Regent's Park areas and has some of the most expensive properties in London.

Det Con Paulo Roberts said many of the missing items were unique in their design, and therefore easily identifiable.

He said: "This is a brazen offence, where the suspect has entered the property while armed with an unknown weapon and violated the sanctuary of the victims' home.

"We urge anyone who was in the area of Avenue Road, NW8, and saw anything suspicious to please come forward.

"Also, if you have seen this jewellery since, someone has offered to sell you it, or you have any further information, then please also contact the police or Crimestoppers anonymously."

A second reward of 10% of the value of any recovered items has been offered by the homeowners for information that leads to the retrieval of the stolen jewellery.