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CCTV picture 'infringes conwoman's human rights'
Last updated at 10:48am on 26.10.06
In the frame: the woman believed to have stolen jewellery worth thousands of pounds, tries some on for size
Jewellers in Kensington being targeted in their shops by a thief have been told not to put up warning pictures of the woman - because it would infringe her human rights.
The latest trader to fall victim to the con artist was even told by police to detain the thief herself.
CCTV footage shows the woman distracting a young shop assistant as she pockets thousands of pounds of expensive rings and necklaces.
Posing as a wealthy woman from Dubai, she snatches jewellery after asking junior assistants to fetch or wrap up other items.
She then says she has to get a credit card from her driver and disappears - only for shocked staff to discover that stock is missing.
Jewellery designer Isabel Kurtenbach, 38, became the latest victim when £2,000 of white gold and silver rings, necklaces and earrings were stolen on Tuesday afternoon.
The thief struck when she left a 24-yearold assistant in charge of her shop - Isabel Kurtenbach Design in Kensington Church Walk.
Ms Kurtenbach said: "I know the woman well, all the shops around here do. She knows I will ask her to leave, so she comes when I'm not here. She is well-spoken, well-dressed and claims to be from Dubai. She says she is very rich and owns lots of property there."
Ms Kurtenbach added: "It is only when you look closely and see her teeth and fingernails - which are in a terrible state - that you realise it's all a lie."
Police have still not collected the CCTV footage from Ms Kurtenbach, but she was advised by a Pc over the phone to try to hold the woman herself, dial 999 and wait for officers to arrive.
Ms Kurtenbach said: "I could not believe it - this woman is a criminal. If I tried to stop her she might attack me, she might have a knife."
Other traders are so sick of being targeted they have asked Ms Kurtenbach to give them a picture of her that can be put up in their shops to warn staff.
But when Ms Kurtenbach asked the police officer if she could do this she was told it would be an infringement of the woman's human rights.
Michelle Manguette owns the nearby Manguette Jewellery store and told how the same woman stole items worth £3,000 four years ago. She said: "The woman asked to see lots of stock and then said she was going to get her card from her driver. Then she disappeared.
"She comes around every year, but won't bother trying if I'm here because she knows I know her. She looks to see if an assistant is here on their own."
The woman also visited Manguette and another jewellery shop in the area in the latest attempt but was asked to leave.
The owner of a nearby clothes shop, who asked not to be named, told how £1,000 of cashmere jumpers were recently taken from her shop.
She said: "She came in and took some stuff into the changing rooms. Then she said she was going to get her credit card from her driver.
"But she never came back and then I noticed the jumpers were gone. I was furious and went after her, but it was too late."
A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed officers were investigating the latest theft.
Reader views (20)
in certain cucumstances you can take the law into your own hands, if youve reported the offence to the police and have a crime ref then you can detain the offender pending the arrival of the police, in my opinion if your sure that this person is guilty it cant do too much harm showing the other retailers what she looks like, i know i would appreciate it from a security point of view.
- Security Guard, hull, england, 24/12/2008 23:41
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I've said it before and I'll say it again: It is nice to know that the US is no longer the stupidest country in the world.
- Johnr, Dallas, TX USA, 27/10/2006 13:29
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You have chewed and swallowed the socialist/progressive lie. Goodbye, fair England.
- Stan, Mistville, USA, 27/10/2006 12:39
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Basic common sense no longer seems to be applicable within those agencies who are supposed to be protecting honest hard working people. Has everyone lost their minds in the bureaucracies of the western world? I have what I think is the answer. This is done for balance. Over the centuries the authorities of the western world meted out remarkable harsh treatment for relatively minor crimes, especially in Europe. Perhaps those in authority today believe this favorable treatment of modern wrong doers balances out the treatment of the people of those times. Wake up folks, it don’t work that way.
- Rich, Mentor, USA, 27/10/2006 11:02
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Police protect the criminals, not the victims.
- Bea, South Africa, 26/10/2006 18:24
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I blame her driver for not giving her a credit card before she goes into the shops.
- Mark, Helsingborg, Sweden, 26/10/2006 13:50
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I agree with Paul and James. If the police officer's advice was sound we wouldn't have "Crimewatch" on TV and the police would never issue e-fit pictures of suspects. I hope Ms Kurtenbach makes an official complaint about this nonsense.
- Austen, London, 26/10/2006 13:42
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Following on from Paul Ebhart's comment: not only are the police not experts in law or human rights - they barely seem to be competent in crime prevention and detection either.
- Ollie, London, 26/10/2006 13:24
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Put up the picture... and a reward for information leading to her arrest!
- Nigel, London, 26/10/2006 13:22
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This just demonstrates how emasculated the Police Service has become - about time they took off their kid gloves and got on with some hard-nosed policework. We should remind them daily of their basic tenets which are the Protection of life and property, the Prosecution of Offences against the Peace and the Prevention and Detection of Crime.
- Robert, Hull, East Yorks.,, 26/10/2006 13:10
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How does one become a jewel thief then? Looks like I am in the wrong line of work...
- Jay, London, 26/10/2006 13:02
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Why not put a great big poster of her in the window of all the shops and then when she comes forward to complain about her human rights the police can arrest her for the theft and question her to see if she is guilty.
- John, london, 26/10/2006 12:14
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Ignore the Police. They are clearly failing to do their job, time to look after yourself. Circulate this thief's picture and get her locked up pronto. Usual PC tripe from useless plod.
- James Ritchie, London, UK., 26/10/2006 12:11
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Never believe advice given to you by a policeman. They are not experts in law, and they certainly aren't experts in human rights legislation.
- Paul Ebhart, Guildford, 26/10/2006 11:38
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The police are right! If shopkeepers start to put up warning photos of people they think are shoplifters then who knows who they will have photos of next... it could be me or you. England is more and more becoming a Big Brother state, and the last thing we want is for our photos to be pinned up in shop staff rooms just because the shopkeepers have issues with us. And if a shop is stupid enough to not have shoplifting measures in place they should suffer for it - not start pointing the finger at unconvicted and possibly innocent people.
- Fhamina, Stepney Green, 26/10/2006 11:37
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I know I may sound crazy, but I agree with the police's stand. Until she is actually convicted as a shoplifter she should be presumed innocent - and therefore shops shouldn't pass around photographs of her. You're not supposed to take the law into your own hands, therefore it would be illegal to persecute this woman.
- Frankie J Johnson, London, 26/10/2006 11:36
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What about the rights of the shop-owners! It's good that there is a community of shop-owners in London who are all talking about her, but how on earth can they identify her if they are not allowed to share a photo of her!? Will the newspaper itself get into trouble for publishing a
grainy image of her?! No doubt this woman will move onto shops in Chelsea and Hampstead next - if she is a known shoplifter then her photograph should be shown!
- Emily, Latimer Road, West London, 26/10/2006 11:35
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Of all the stupid things for the police to do! I think that the law should be ammended so that instead of preventing people from distributing pictures of known criminals for security reasons it should be encouraged. Imagine how diferent crime rates would be if the police distributed to all shop owners sheets with the printed mugshots of known felons operating in the area.
What ever happened to the "Wanted" posters of old?
- Tamsin, N6, 26/10/2006 11:08
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Great! I'll be popping off to Kensington for my next round of thieving then! No police and no chance that the shops will be warning each other I'm on the way! Horay, Well done the Met!
- Marmite, Hammersmith, 26/10/2006 11:04
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It's incredible that the police are not taking approporiate measures to stop this known criminal! I remember recently a council published the faces of persistant litter bugs in a campaign to shame them into changing their ways.
Why is it ok for them to do that and not for local shop owners to warn each other of a known danger. Surely not to do so would mean that they are not taking reasonable steps to protect themselves from robbery, which may in turn void their insurance!
- Harold, Lewisham, 26/10/2006 11:03
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