Burglars used Google Street View to scout out millionaire bank boss's mansion before carrying out £100,000 jewellery raid Thieves struck at rural home of Robin Bowie with apparent intimate knowledge of the sprawling property They took a hidden safe containing £100,000 worth of jewellery as well as a large sum of cash before speeding off Mr Bowie, founder of investment bank Dexion Capital, believes they may have used Google Maps to scout his home Burglars may have used Google Street View to raid a millionaire bank boss's secluded mansion and steal £100,000 worth of jewellery. Thieves broke into the home of Robin Bowie, founder of investment bank Dexion Capital, after apparently gaining intimate knowledge of the layout of his sprawling property. They stole a hidden safe which they carted away in a wheelbarrow before making off in a silver-coloured saloon-style car just as Mr Bowie's wife Sally, 51, arrived home at 7.30pm on January 10. The safe held a haul of expensive jewellery and several thousand pounds in cash. Grand: A Google Street View image of Robin Bowie's property. The bank boss believes that a gang of thieves may have used the online maps service to conduct reconnaissance on his home before burgling it An aerial shot of Mr Bowie's home: The bank boss speculated that the burglars may have used images of the area on Google Maps satellite view like this one to find their way into and around his home in Leicestershire The thieves struck at the palatial mansion of Mr Bowie in East Langton, Leicestershire, where he lives with his wife Sally, 51, and their three children Georgina, Isabella and Johnny. The intruders used a ladder to scale the 6ft-high perimeter wall at the front of the property before forcing open an upstairs window. The gang then used a steel rod which they found on the family's tennis court at the rear of the house to leaver out the safe which was bolted into a hidden cupboard. A wheelbarrow in the garden was then used to transport the heavy safe to a waiting getaway car. The gang were almost caught when Mrs Bowie returned home seconds before the gang sped away. Wealthy: Mr Bowie founded boutique investment bank Dexion Capital in 2000 with an investment of just £25,000 and now has net assets of £425million Mr Bowie founded Dexion in 2000 with an investment of just £25,000 and now has net assets of £425million. He said: 'There was a combination of jewellery stolen. Things that were from my father and from my wife's grandparents and parents, as well as things I had bought. My wife only saw one man but we think there would have had to have been more. I think they knew what they were looking for. We have lived in the house for 19 years and this is the first time we have been broken into. We do not have CCTV on the house. It is perfectly possible that whoever was responsible looked the property up on the internet. We live in an age where images and information is readily available on the internet and on the whole that is perfectly healthy and a good thing. However, Google is obviously a useful tool to those people planning burglaries. After dumping the wheelbarrow, the three raiders escaped in a pale, silver-coloured saloon-style car with the registration plate beginning with the letter R. Yesterday Mr Bowie released pictures of the jewellery which was stolen in the hope that dealers who were offered it would report it to the police. He added: 'It just makes you so much more apprehensive and less open to people. You become more suspicious about things. The jewellery includes watches, a necklace, bracelets and earrings. Valuable: These are just two of the items of jewellery kept in the safe stolen by the thieves Heirlooms: While some pieces had been bought by Mr Bowie, others were left to him and his wife by family Investigating officer Detective Constable Melanie Fisher, of Leicestershire Police, said: 'The victims have been left upset at the loss of their family jewellery and are keen to do everything possible to ensure the return of their property. We would urge jewellers and pawn brokers to have a look at the images and contact us if they have been approached by someone selling similar items or even visited by someone asking for them to value the items. We are also keen to speak to anybody who saw someone acting suspiciously in the area at the time or who knows who may be responsible for the burglary.