'The crime is just horrible': Swarovski heiress no longer wears jewellery in London over mugging fears
20 March 2024, 14:28
The heiress to the Swarovski crystal fortune has said she no longer wears jewellery in London due to fears of being mugged.
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Nadja Swarovski, from the multi-billion pound Austrian crystal family, has said she fell victim to a watch theft in London and has stopped wearing her jewels.
Ms Swarovski, 52, told the Daily Mail: “I myself have been a victim. I don’t wear a lot of jewellery, because of that, not even a watch.
“I have to say, living in London does not make you feel very comfortable, the crime is just horrible.”
In another crime in 2005 she was alone when two men burst into her home in Knightsbridge, west London. The pair stole jewellery believed to be worth £250,000 from the penthouse apartment while she was heavily pregnant.
The Met police is cracking down on organised gangs targeting luxury watch owners in London.
They operate on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights between 11pm and 4am and target only high value brands like Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet from people who are drunk or making their way home alone.
In January, LBC reported how undercover police officers arrested dozens of watch thieves in Central London after wandering the streets wearing visible ‘luxury’ watches.
Footage shared with LBC shows lone officers wandering the streets of Soho - where around a third of all of London’s watch thefts are reported.
They are seen being approached by gang members who ask if they want to buy drugs, go to a brothel or join an after party.
As they are led down a quiet street, thieves then attempt to steal their watch before other officers on standby are seen running in and making arrests.
