Afternoon:
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Sadie's shop hit in moped raid
Anna Davis, Evening Standard4 Oct 2007
Sadie Frost's new boutique was ramraided by thieves this morning, making it the third clothes shop to be targeted in a week.
Two thieves riding mopeds smashed into FrostFrench in Camden Passage, Islington at 1.30am and stole more than £10,000 of clothes from the autumn/winter collection.
They got away with winter coats, each worth £300, and a denim collection as well as other clothes.
The shop, which opened just two weeks ago, was shut today, and Miss Frost and business partner Jemima French were said to be "devastated."
A spokeswoman for the store said: "We are completely shocked and Sadie and Jemima were quite devastated. But they are glad they can replenish the stock from their new website so it should be able to reopen tomorrow."
She added: "It looks like a moped went through the front door. They may have been down to the shop to see what they wanted to take. The clothes were taken from the area immediately by the door."
The raid comes after £50,000 worth of designer handbags were stolen from Larizia in St John's Wood High Street in the early hours of yesterday by a gang on mopeds.
The Marc Jacobs store in Mayfair was targeted in a similar way on Friday.
Two weeks ago robbers on mopeds stole £10,000 of bags from Luella Bartley's new store, also in Mayfair. Minutes earlier they struck at the Brora cashmere store in Marylebone High Street and took two holdalls of goods worth hundreds of pounds.
Police are investigating the latest incident. A spokesman said it is believed one person smashed into the shop while another grabbed the clothes.
In the raid on Larizia in St John's Wood High Street, about 70 bags, including the latest designs from Chloé, Marc Jacobs and Balenciaga, were stolen.
Michael Harris, who owns the shop, said: "There is a spate of these raids in London and they are likely to continue. Ramraiding is the name of the game just now."
The latest raid came a year after the Golders Green branch of Larizia was hit three times in 10 days, costing an estimated £80,000.
Officers all over London are pooling their intelligence in the belief that many of the raids are linked to a single group of criminals. A Met spokeswoman said: "We are aware of a number of incidents across London where suspects on mopeds and scooters smash shop fronts and steal high-value goods."
In June, goods including two alligator-skin handbags worth £7,500 each were stolen at Roger Vivier in Knightsbridge. The robbers smashed their way into the shop with a sledgehammer before escaping on a motorcycle.
Weeks later, a gang of about 12 people used a sledgehammer to smash into Roger Pope & Partners in the West End and stole about 250 pairs of designer sunglasses, some worth £400.
Boutique owners say small items such as handbags are being targeted because they are easier to sell than jewellery.
