A grandmother who reported to police that her gold jewellery had been stolen has claimed the items were sold to a gold exchange company and shipped out of the Island within days.

The 61-year-old woman, who asked not to be identified, said the culprit was her grandson, who is on probation for previous offences.

The break-in at their Warwick on January 16, netted the thief an estimated $5,000 worth of gold jewellery, including a $3,500 bracelet.

Now the woman wants to know why local company Gold Standard, who she claims were given specific information and documentation the day after the jewellery was stolen, sent the items out of the country within three days.

After the robbery, in broad daylight, the woman and her husband immediately pointed the finger to their grandson.

“We knew it was him because this is how he operates, he lived with us so we know how he operates,” she said. “We turned him in to police the last time because he took all my husband’s jewellery. That was worth about $3,000 and he did time in prison because of it.

“The last time he said he sold it, my husband’s jewellery was never recovered. He sold it for $300.”

Following the latest incident, the woman said she immediately went to Gold Standard.

“I gave them pictures, I gave them the name of the suspect, his passport, I had all of that,” she said.

“The woman wrote everything down and told me she was glad that I came in as early as I did. They took all my information. I asked them what’s the procedure. “She said they would call the police so I left — that was Friday, January 17.”

She said she returned with her grandson the following day when the manager was on duty, and was able to produce a receipt showing Gold Standard paid her grandson $795.03 for $5,000 worth of her jewellery.

“We were there at 10am when they opened. I spoke with the manager, he said ‘we don’t have your jewellery’. He said ‘it’s gone out to be melted’,” she said.

“I told him they need to change their policy, a policy that makes it mandatory for them to hold items for a specified period. For all I know Gold Standard may still have it.

“There should be at least a five to a ten day window before that stolen gold is shipped anywhere. There is nothing in place to protect the people.”

Asked to comment on the women’s allegations, owner/manager Jonathan Hitchcock issued the following statement:

“In regard to this matter, Gold Standard has worked hand in hand with key members within the Bermuda Police Service and other regulatory authorities in an effort to ensure that all of our transactions are of the utmost legitimacy and that we are able to provide efficient service to our customers.

“When material is presented for sale at our store, items presented are screened by our buyers to ensure that they have not been reported as stolen or missing. Once this is complete, the material can then be assessed for the purpose of valuation.

“In this particular instance, we had not received any information regarding the items being presented for sale being missing, nor the individual presenting the material for sale, and on that basis we proceeded to treat the client in question as a legitimate customer.

“All customers at Gold Standard are required to present valid photo identification, as well as completing a customer sales agreement, and these procedures have proven very successful in the past at either deterring and convicting individuals who might attempt to take advantage of the services that we offer. Gold Standard also reserves the right to outright decline service to a client without explanation if our buyers are not satisfied with the legitimacy of the transaction.

“As a recent example, within the last month, one of our buyers purchased some items from a young man that gave us some concerns upon review. We happened to have a personal connection with one of the young man’s family members and made a phone call, which ultimately led to the discovery that the items had been taken from his grandmother without permission and the items were able to be returned the same day.

“This current situation bears some similarities in that the theft involved a trusted family member but the items apparently did not raise the suspicion of our buyer in this case, which would have typically led to an item being separated for further review or our declining to make the purchase in the first place.

“We have an existing policy of holding items for at least a week before forwarding them for refining but this policy was not followed in this situation and we are currently reviewing our procedures to ensure that this extremely unfortunate event is never repeated in the future. All the same, we would welcome any formal regulations and are fully prepared to meet or exceed any guidelines mandated by law.”

A Police spokesman said: “The BPS is sensitive to the fact that much of what you require from of us by way of a response cannot be addressed at this point as that information might form the basis of a criminal investigation and that we should not comment specifically.

“However, we can go on the record to say ‘there are no legislated conditions imposed on bullion dealerships but the BPS works closely with them and has recovered stolen property on multiple occasions as a result. The law provides specific penalties for handling stolen property and the BPS will vigorously follow up and investigate all cases where it appears that criminal offences may have been committed’.”