Raiders target sunglass stock

Thieves broke into a Kingston-Upon-Thames practice this week and stole designer sunglasses worth over 5,000.

Around 120 designer sunglasses, mainly Maui Jim, were snatched from the Kingston Eye Centre located within the Crown shopping arcade during the night of Monday February 13.

Practice owner and optometrist John Rose said that the culprits had specifically targeted his practice and warned other practitioners to remain alert.

'The thieves caused around 5,000 damage when they forced their way through the arcade entrance doors, ignored the seven or eight other shops in the arcade and broke straight into my store,' he said.

'For some reason they only wanted the sunglasses. All my ophthalmic collections sitting next to them remained untouched.'
Rose said that the thieves 'must have been determined' as he had installed bullet proof doors and Top Vision lockable displays to protect his stock.

'Fortunately they couldn't get in to one of the units so I managed to retain around 90 pairs of designer sunglasses, including Dior, Police, Lulu Guinness and Gucci.'

If offered sunglasses in suspicious circumstances, please contact Kingston Police on:
020 8541 1212.