Birmingham double murder: Were Avtar and Carole Kolar victims of Asian gold thieves?

Jan 15 2012 by Adam Aspinall, Sunday Mercury

DETECTIVES fear Avtar and Carole Kolar could have been victims of thieves targeting Asian families for gold.

There was almost one burglary a day in their neighbourhood in Handsworth Wood, Birmingham, last year, according to Home Office statistics.

Researchers that there was on average 24 burglaries per month in the area.

And on Friary Road, where the couple lived, near Handsworth Golf Course, four properties had been burgled over a 12-month period.

Detective Superintendent Richard Baker, who is leading the investigation, said gold theft was regarded as a “significant line of inquiry”.

And last night a spokesman for West Midlands police said: “Detectives have a completely open mind on this case and it is safe to say they are looking into every possible line of inquiry at this moment in time.”

Gold prices have risen in the credit crunch and Asian gold is the purest available.

Police said there have been a spate of gold thefts in Birmingham and the Black Country in recent weeks.

* An 18-inch gold necklace offered to a jeweller in Walsall was suspected to have been stolen last week.

*A distinctive gold Rotary watch was among jewellery items stolen from a house on Kings Road, Kingstanding on December 27.

* £15,000 worth of Asian jewellery, crafted from 24-carat gold, was stolen from a house on Perrins Lane, Lye, on December 14.

* Gold jewellery was stolen when burglars targeted two homes, just a hundred yards apart in Wall Heath, Kingswinford, on December 20.

* Items taken from a house on New Dudley Road included a nine-carat gold chain, a nine-carat gold ring with a diamond and a silver Armani watch. Raiders failed to take any items from another house in Wolverhampton Road.