Tower of London intruder steals keys to the Crown Jewels

[jimmy olsen]

How would you even sell something like the Crown Jewels even if you managed to steal them?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/12/tower-of-london-intruder

Tower of London intruder steals keys from sentry box

Crown jewels safe but locks changed as police investigate theft of keys from grounds of London landmark

    Press Association
    guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 November 2012 10.21 GMT   



Police have launched an investigation after an intruder broke in and stole keys from the grounds of the Tower of London.

Officials from the London landmark admitted they had been forced to change some of their locks after a set of keys was stolen from a sentry box.

Tower chiefs insisted that the crown jewels were never at risk of being stolen but admitted security procedures "were not carried out to the expected standard".

The keys gave access to the drawbridges as well as conference rooms and a restaurant, according to Historic Royal Palaces, which runs the site.

A spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that an incident took place in the tower environs in the early hours of November 6 and that this is now a police matter, so we are unable to discuss details.

"We can however confirm that during this incident, keys for a restaurant and conference rooms were taken together with a key to an internal lock to the tower drawbridges that is not accessible from the outside.

"It would not have been possible to gain access to the tower with any of these keys. All the affected locks were immediately changed.

"We have carried out an internal investigation and have concluded that our well-established security systems and procedures are robust. However on this occasion, these procedures were not carried out to the expected standard. A staff disciplinary procedure is under way to address this issue."

The Tower of London is famously guarded by the Yeoman Warders, or Beefeaters.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "An allegation of theft has been made to police, which is being investigated by Tower Hamlets CID."

Title may have been exaggerated to inspire clicks.

[Tonitrus]

Russians would probably buy them.

[sbr]

Russians would probably buy them.

I am sure the Russians already have multiple sets of counterfit Crown Jewels.

[Malthus]

How would you even sell something like the Crown Jewels even if you managed to steal them?

Unless you were hired by some rich person to steal them specifically, you'd probably not bother to try to sell them as complete pieces of jewelry (too risky) but rather break them up into their component stones and gold, and sell that. Any stones so large as to be instantly recognizable would be recut into multiple smaller, easier to fence stones.