jewellery belonging to them went missing while in Police custody.

Mr. and Mrs. George Zumbano were vacationing in Bermuda when a bag containing cash, credit cards and jewellery was stolen from an unattended golf cart.

They were delighted when Police caught the thief and returned most of the jewellery. However, three items, including a valuable lion's head ring studded with rubies and diamonds, were temporarily kept by Police as evidence for further investigation with the promise that they would be posted to the couple later.

Four months after the theft took place the New Jersey couple, who own their own jewellery store, received a registered letter containing all the remaining jewellery except the Lion ring. The $700 item had been substituted with a costume ring the couple bought for $20.

Since then, they claim they have sent numerous registered letters to the Police Service and the investigating officer demanding to know what happened to the ring. But nobody has signed for them and they have yet to receive a reply.

"I find it very suspicious that they have not picked up their mail,'' Mr.

Zumano said. "I absolutely feel that my follow up letters have been ignored.

It makes me get an ill feeling that someone is doing something wrong.'' Mr. Zumano said the ring was valuable and a "prize possession'' of his wife.

He added that up until the arrival of the wrong ring, the Police had been most helpful and co-operative and they had even written a letter to the Editor of The Royal Gazette thanking them.

Yesterday community relations officer Sgt. Chris Wilcox said that as far as Police were aware, all the jewellery that had been recovered had been returned to the couple.

"As far as Police were concerned, everything was sent to them,'' he said. If the letters had not been collected, it was possible they had been sent to the wrong address.

But having heard that the ring was still missing, the investigating officer was reopening the case.

If the Zumbanos were unhappy, they should address their complaints to the Police Commissioner who would take the matter up with the investigating officer, he said.

POLICE CRIME