A jeweller forced to shut his shop because of repeated raids has died just weeks before its closure.

The family of Geoff Bolton believe the stress of the robberies may have contributed to the heart attack which killed him, aged 90.

Mr Bolton worked at the same Guiseley premises for 74 years after starting there as an apprentice in 1938. He was still working the day before he died.

The decision to close the shop – NG Bolton – was taken by Mr Bolton and his son Robert after 23 attacks in which staff were threatened with sawn-off shotguns and windows smashed.

The final straw came after the theft of jewellery from Robert’s car while his father was a passenger.

Robert said: “He was doing quite nicely really until then.” He said although there was no way of knowing for sure, he felt the stress of the thefts could have contributed to his father’s death.

“I think it was a combination of factors,” he said. “He was really shaken by the incident itself but there was also the trauma because of the effect it had on the business. He had a problem at his house when they had filled his alarm box with foam and cut the telephone lines..

“What killed him was a heart attack and heart problems can be influenced by stress. He had been through a stressful period..

OBITUARY

A jeweller who has died at the age of 90 played an important role in the lives of Guiseley people for more than seven decades.

Geoff Bolton was a well-known figure in the town, where he ran the jewellers N G Bolton.

Mr Bolton, was born in Baildon and during his early years he was fascinated by aeronautics and photography and was proud of photographs he had taken of the Hindenberg flying along the course of the Aire in the 1930s.

He began his working life at Crompton Parkinson’s in Guiseley, but became assistant projectionist at Guiseley Picture Palace. His career as a jeweller began when he was taken on as an apprentice in a watch and clock repair shop in Springfield Road, Guiseley. Tom Crook had started the shop ten years earlier in 1928.

After volunteering to join the RAF in 1941 he was trained to repair cameras and was seconded to work with the Free French Air Force.

After the war he returned to the Guiseley shop and also took up hobbies showing films at children’s parties and making cine films. He won awards for photography and started a night school class for cine making. He met his wife Joyce when he saw her playing Portia in The Merchant of Venice at Guiseley Methodist Church.

The couple devised an award winning system for five-year-old children to make animated cine films.

Mr Bolton was also one of the founders of the Mercury Movies Cine Society, which is still thriving.

When Tom Crook died in 1970, Mr Bolton took over the business and changed the name. He was joined by his son Robert in 1975.

Robert said life had been difficult for his father after the death of his wife, with problems at the business also taking their toll.

But he celebrated his 90th birthday on Boxing Day and went to Whitby the day after to deliver a diamond ring to a long-standing client.

A day later he was taken into hospital where he died peacefully.

Robert said: “He was a very kind man and he was always thinking about other people more than himself.

“He really wanted to serve people and I think that is why he had such a long career. I worked with him for 37 years and he was my friend as well as my dad. It is wonderful really that I had the privilege of having a relationship like that.”