The ‘Spider-Man’ cat burglar in an audacious £10.4 million jewellery heist may have used a drone to ‘case’ the mansion, it has emerged.
The brazen thief took just 19 minutes to steal a huge haul of gems, including one-off necklaces, bracelets and rings, in a house with 13 bedrooms and eight staff inside.
Wealthy socialite Shafira Huang, an art collector, and her property developer husband Vincent Wan were away from their Primrose Hill home when the burglar struck at around 5pm on December 7.
Their chief of staff Csaba Virag, who has previously described the thief as moving ‘like Spider-Man’ as he stole his way to the roof before entering through a second-floor window, was among eight staff in the property at the time.
He revealed that there is clear evidence of pre-planning by the thief but said that he doubts any employees were involved.
Among the theories raised is one that the thief posed as a prospective buyer of a nearby property that has a similar layout so he was able to prepare for the raid in advance while also surveying his target.
But Mr Virag, who is acting as the family’s public spokesperson in the wake of the raid amid huge public interest, believes there are several possibilities as to how the thief was able to execute such a clean robbery.
Mr Virag said: ‘Everyone’s first impression is that this must have been an inside job. But I am of the opinion that it was not an inside job.
‘I cannot disclose the full picture but there were a number of coincidences that were fortunate for the thief and unfortunate for the family.
‘There were so many things that went in favour of the thief that it was clearly pre-planned. He must have monitored the house, whether with inside information or not.
‘In my opinion, he could have used a drone for surveillance to see where to gain access.’
Previously, the thief was reported to have used a ladder from a nearby house that was having extensive renovation work done to access the roof before entering via a second-floor window.
Mr Virag has now revealed that the intruder initially tried a rear window backing on to the luxury home’s garden that was often the only one open – but not on that night.
He left marks, probably from a screwdriver or crowbar, from attempting to enter.
When that failed, the thief’s first stroke of luck, Mr Virag said, was that he managed to get in through a usually locked second-floor bathroom window at the back of the house.
All of this pointed to pre-planning and surveillance to assess the easiest possible means of entry.
His second slice of good fortune was that a live-in governess was not in her quarters when he clambered into her bathroom because she was in a meeting with Mr Virag in the basement.
Mr Virag said the intruder would have had to climb down onto a sink from the window but moved ‘like a cat’ to avoid making any marks on it.
The Avenue Road heist on December 7 saw £10.4million of jewellery stolen in less than half an hour, including:
The thief also stole £150,000 of Hermes Crocodile Kelly handbags and around £15,000 in cash.
The third coincidence is revealed on CCTV footage previously released by the family which shows the masked man striding across a landing just 63 seconds before a maid emerged from a lift.
The thief’s fourth stroke of luck came when he tried to leave through a rarely used guest room but he could not open the window from the inside and was forced to exit the same way as he came in.
That meant that there was a ‘high risk’ of the intruder, who appeared to be carrying a canister of noxious spray in case he was confronted, being seen but yet again he avoided detection.
Security footage released by the family shows him rifling through a dressing table, dressed head-to-toe in dark clothing. He is believed to have made most of his gains in this single moment.
Shafira Huang, also known as Sishuo Huang or Wan, the westernised version of her surname easier for non-Chinese speakers to pronounce, is believed to be in her mid 30s.
She is married to international property developer Vincent Wan, thought to be in his early 40s, who has substantial investments in Hong Kong, Dubai, New Zealand and Europe.
In 2015, Mr Wan founded residential and commercial property development firm Wilshire Group in Auckland with his wife as co-director.
Wilshire’s housing projects included 700 new homes in the antipodean city’s Mount Wellington suburb and a £10million commercial redevelopment of a historic, eight-storey building in the city’s central business district.
Mrs Huang is no longer a director of Wilshire Group but Companies House documents in the UK reveal she was appointed a director of four further property firms in 2019.
The couple, who met abroad, both have strong connections to Hong Kong but now spend most of their time in London.
They purchased their Primrose Hill residence, which is in her name, for £38.5 million in 2019.
Mrs Huang is a familiar face at society functions and charity galas, recently attending a fine dining Christmas celebration with Sarah Ferguson that was hosted by a mutual friend.
The ‘culture ambassador’ for the Halcyon Gallery on New Bond Street, which she promotes online, has been a regular at art and fashion shows in Paris since 2019.
There is speculation that Shafira became a target after flaunting her enviable luxury lifestyle and wealth on Instagram.
Before the burglary, Shafira posted snaps of herself lounging on private jets and yachts sporting priceless jewellery, ultra-luxe fashion and designer handbags. Her account is now private.
One friend had commented that she knew she was likely a ‘magnet’ for criminals because of the way she flaunted gold, sapphire and diamond jewels as she rode around in Rolls Royces.
And Simon Ash, lead investigator at Line of Inquiry Investigations, told this was likely to be the case.
He said: ‘Just looking from the outside in, basically, she had a bit of a target on her back. She wasn’t exactly hiding the jewellery.
‘This is where we recommend people take, you know, good security advice and maybe not actually wear it.
‘You might as well just go in front of the camera and dangle a million quid cash and say, “come to my house”.’
But Mr Virag suggested that that the couple were more likely targeted because of their neighbourhood.
Their street Avenue Road is one of Britain’s wealthiest addresses, where properties go for an average of £15.1million at a time, and is home to scores of largely international billionaires and millionaires.
It is understood that there was another burglary of a property on the street only the day before.
And that two weeks earlier, a thief raided a property in the vicinity after also gaining access via a second floor window.
The couple are said to have ruled out an ‘inside job’ after engaging their own private security company once they had contacted the Metropolitan Police.
Staff voluntarily agreed to undergo polygraph testing and all were deemed to have passed with the family now focused on assisting the police investigation.
They have offered a reward of up to £500,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thief and 10 per cent of the value of any recovered items.
The thief’s £10.4million haul included a Graff 10.73-carat diamond ring, two De Beers butterfly diamond rings and a Niloticus Lumiere necklace, along with Hermes handbags worth £150,000 and £15,000 in cash.
Mr Virag said: ‘The aim of all the publicity is that there is not a single jewellery shop in the UK that would touch the stolen items I hope.’
Private investigator Mr Ash, however, said it is likely the jewellery will either be hidden away for years to let it cool off or broken down into its component parts to be sold.
‘Quite likely it would probably just be settled in a safe place, for anything up to eight years. But it could be broken down into pieces,’ he said.
The thief is said to be a white man about 5ft 7in or 5ft 8in tall and in his late 20s to 30s. Anyone with information should call police on 101.