Burglars in Herne Bay jewellery heist stole cheap materials but caused thousands worth of damage

Three destructive burglars who broke into a luxury jewellery store in a prestigious Auckland suburb left with cheap samples but caused thousands in damage.

The store owner told the Herald it would cost significantly more to repair the damages than it would to replace the stolen items, most of which were samples made from inexpensive materials.

“They had no idea what they were doing,” he said.

Luxury diamond specialist shop Culet Jewellery was targeted in the three-minute heist in Herne Bay.

The suburb is known for its multi-million dollar homes and rich-lister residents.

Owner Scott Rushton said he was fast asleep when his security company called him at 2.45am to tell him his shop’s alarm was triggered by people breaking in.

His security camera footage showed three men who spent two minutes using a pickaxe to break through the store’s bullet-resistant glass windows.

Culet Jewellery's security cameras captured three men breaking into his store at 2.45am.

After that, they only managed to spend one minute inside the store before fleeing.

Most of that time was spent smashing up about $15,000 worth of glass cabinetry.

Rushton said the people who lived in an apartment above the store heard the banging and called the police, who arrived soon after.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rebecca Kirk confirmed police were investigating the burglary.

“Offenders have smashed their way in to a Jervois Rd store, causing significant damage and taking a number of items,” Kirk said.

She said the offenders fled in a vehicle before police arrived on the scene.

“The vehicle was located abandoned on John St and has since been towed for forensic examination.”

Rushton said the offenders stole men’s wedding rings that were made of gold and platinum, some lab-grown diamond items and a range of sample jewellery.

Pictures posted to social media by Rushton show the extent of the damages to his store.

He single-handedly makes all of the jewellery he sells, which includes made-to-order custom pieces.

He would display sample items, like rings and tennis bracelets, to show potential customers what he could recreate for them in more expensive materials.

He said the stolen sample items would be “of no value” to the burglars because they were made using silver and cubic zirconia stones and did not have much monetary value.

Rushton said anything of great value was always packed away into his safe at the end of every day.

Rushton said the cabinets that were broken by the offenders would cost $15,000 to replace.

Rushton has been in the jewellery business for more than 20 years and said his stores had been broken into seven times.

This particular store had been broken into three times.

“The more it happens, the more desensitised I am to it,” he said.

Rushton said the break-ins had not made him consider leaving his line of work because it was “part and parcel” of his job.

“I live to sell diamonds another day,” he said.

It was important to him that no one was ever hurt during a burglary.

“You don’t want to consider the worst case scenario ... I’ve got kids.”

It would take Rushton a few weeks to replace the sample jewellery and the windows but the cabinetry would take longer.

“It’s a real pain,” he said.

“They don’t realise the crazy amount of damage they do.”

Police are asking anyone with information that could help the investigation to call 105 and use the job number P065767017.