Thieves net £150,000 in Riviera Hilton raids

French police are investigating thefts at a leading hotel in Cannes over the weekend in which guests lost up to £150,000 of jewellery and cash.

French police are investigating thefts at a leading hotel in Cannes over the weekend in which guests lost up to £150,000 of jewellery and cash.

Among the victims was Jacqueline Hechter, wife of the fashion designer Daniel Hechter, who is reported to have lost all her luggage, including a handbag containing jewellery worth €46,000 (£30,000), after handing it to a porter in the lobby of the Noga Hilton Hotel shortly after arriving on Saturday evening.

A spokesman for the hotel confirmed that "some clients have reported thefts and a police inquiry is under way", but declined to say whether an "inside job" was suspected.

Earlier on Saturday, thieves burgled three rooms in the hotel and got away with the equivalent of £120,000 in cash and jewellery.

One of the rooms was occupied by the parents of the Saudi Arabian Defence Minister, Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, said police, and the two others had been rented by four Kuwaiti nationals. Police said the three rooms were burgled between 4pm and 6pm on Saturday - a time when guests are rarely in the hotel, leading to suspicions that the thieves had connections.

According to tourism officials in Cannes, the robbery was the biggest they had heard of for many years in a Riviera hotel.