Pic: The Metropolitan Police

Victims of jewellery theft in the Lewisham area will now be able to search an online database of police photographs of stolen goods to identify their property.

Following the recovery of a large amount of suspected stolen jewellery during a number of different operations targeting stolen goods in the Lewisham area, detectives have uploaded photographs of the items on the image sharing website, Flickr.

This will allow people whose property has been stolen to sift through the images and inform police if they believe they are the owners of any items.

The Flickr page, which went live on July 27, is called “Gold jewellery recovered by Lewisham Burglary Squad” and so far contains over 50 images of stolen jewellery.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Astbury, of the serious acquisitive crime unit of Lewisham police said: “We are utilising every tool available to us to identify as many victims as possible and return this jewellery back to their rightful owners. Using Flickr works and this has already proved be the case in Camden.

‘’We hope that by making use of this technology people will look through the images and recognise their property. Lewisham police are committed to ensuring Lewisham is a safe borough and will continue to investigate the crime committed against you at every opportunity and bring offenders to justice.”

Police said some of the jewellery is unique, with many items believed to be family heirlooms or items of sentimental value.

Officers have already sent letters out to those who have reported incidents of jewellery theft. It is hoped that using Flickr will reach even more people. In Camden, police using the Flickr method have attracted 5,000 visitors to their page.

Anyone in Lewisham who has had their jewellery stolen before July 4 2011 can visit the Metropolitan Police website on www.met.police.co.uk and click on the Flickr link at the bottom to find the ‘Gold jewellery recovered by Lewisham Burglary Squad’ page.