What the burglars lacked in panache, they made up for of their skill to stymie the London police after stealing a useful assortment of handguns brandished by James Bond himself in three films.
On Monday, the Metropolitan Police appealed to the general public for assist in discovering the thieves, six months after the housebreaking. They launched safety digicam footage of a decidedly un-Bondlike automobile — a stubby four-door Vauxhall hatchback — that they imagine the burglars have been utilizing to case the house of the collector they robbed on March 23.
Three thieves broke into the house in Enfield, north London, escaped by a window and fled within the getaway automobile, the police stated, making off with 5 weapons that had been utilized in varied “James Bond” movies.
The police are nonetheless trying to find 4 of the weapons. One, a .22-caliber Llama pistol with a yellow deal with that was featured in “Die One other Day” (2002), was discovered “severely rusted” in a area about 10 miles north of the house by a passer-by. Two different stolen weapons — a Beretta Cheetah pistol and a Beretta Tomcat pistol — have been additionally utilized in “Die One other Day.”
One other of the firearms, all of which had been “deactivated,” a Smith & Weston .44 Magnum, was featured in “Stay and Let Die” (1973).
A Walther PPK utilized by the actor Roger Moore within the 1985 movie “A View to a Kill” throughout a well-known scene wherein the actress Grace Jones flees the Eiffel Tower on a parachute was additionally taken.
Detective Inspector Paul Ridley stated the weapons have been “very distinctive and can virtually actually be acknowledged by the general public and anybody who is obtainable them on the market.” The Smith & Weston .44 Magnum is the one one on the earth to have been completed totally in chrome.
No arrests have been made associated to the theft, the police stated, including that the three supposed thieves have been described as carrying darkish clothes and face coverings and having Jap European accents.
Authenticated props just like the stolen firearms “really grow to be priceless as a result of there may be by no means going to be one other one,” stated Larry Zanoff, assistant supervisor of the armory at Impartial Studio Companies, a prop firm with areas in america and London.
“The sky’s the restrict,” he stated. “It turns into a vendor’s market.”
The weapons had been set to be displayed in a nationwide exhibition, the police stated.
The personal collector who owned the weapons, John Reynolds, an engineer, was devastated by the housebreaking, he advised The Evening Standard. The theft occurred whereas he was working after he had volunteered to take an evening shift, he advised the paper.
“I sat going through the wall for the following two days,” he stated. “The flame has gone out of my life.”
