Warning to home sellers after £8,000 Sussex jewellery theft

International sales director Gilly Vouté and her partner had put their £1million Lindfield home on the market in April and only discovered after viewings of their four-bedroom property that Gilly’s entire gold jewellery collection had been stolen.

"It’s heartbreaking. It’s jewellery I have had for about 35 years,” she said.

"There are professional thieves out there doing viewings with only one thing in mind.

"We all trust the viewers that enter our homes, but beware as they are not all as nice as you think they are.”

She spoke out after one couple who viewed their property sounded enthusiastic about buying it and, after being shown around, asked if they could have another look on their own.

"They seemed such a nice couple. We sat downstairs in the kitchen.”

It was only some days later when Gilly went to put on some jewellery to attend a ‘posh do’ at a local hotel that she discovered all her jewellery had gone.

"It had all been stolen,” she said. “I felt sick, absolutely sick.”

She later found out that the couple had given estate agents a fake address.

She said many agents did not undertake correct security checks on viewers – “no one questions who they really are.

"It is about time, all estate agents took responsibility and make sure that they take a driver’s licence or a copy of their passports to ensure identity."

Now she is warning other property owners to be on their guard. "Please be extra careful to stay with the viewers at all times, in my case my entire collection of gold jewellery was stolen and, apart from the trauma, it’s irreplaceable.

"We had assumed, incorrectly, that the agent had carried out identity checks.”

She added: “I think people need to be aware. If they are doing a viewing people should never be left alone to look round your property.

"I would watch everybody like a hawk now.”

She said they had since taken their property off the market and were installing CCTV cameras.

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