Cambridgeshire victim of £2m burglary gang delighted after 34 items of jewellery returned

Pauline Douglass (56) was on holiday with a friend when her house in Oldhurst, near Huntingdon, was broken into on April 3, 2017.

Various goods were stolen, but last week she had 34 items of jewellery returned.

The jewellery was recovered by detectives investigating a burglary gang, members of whom were sentenced to a total of 71 years in jail in December.

They had committed more than 200 burglaries, including nearly 100 in Cambridgeshire, costing victims more than £2 million pounds.

Norfolk suffered a similar number of burglaries to Cambridgeshire while other offences took place in Suffolk, Essex and Bedfordshire.

It is the largest number of items so far returned to one victim.

Pauline said: “It was pretty traumatic. I was away in Whitby at the time with a friend and I got a phone call from police to say I’d been burgled. We packed up and made the four-hour trip back.

“I had resigned myself to never seeing any of it again so it was great to receive this jewellery back and I can’t thank the police enough for retrieving it.”

Police are continuing attempts to track down further victims of stolen items.

The images can be viewed here https://www.flickr.com/photos/ophawksbury/.

Those who believe an item belongs to them should email [email protected] with their name, date and address of offence, crime number, exhibit number/album-photo ref of property, contact details (including email address) and any receipts/proof of purchase or photographs of items.