A burglar who used a litter picker to steal priceless silver items from a military museum has been put behind bars.
Graham Gallon, aged 36, sneaked into the Royal Lancers & Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum in Newark, Notts in the early hours of October 29 last year. He cut a hole from an archway in the former military stables directly underneath the museum to get to a display cabinet.
It’s thought that Gallon then used a litter picker tool to nab silver items from inside the display case. Staff reckon another small hole suggests a camera was pushed into the case to let Gallon see what valuable silverware to nick.
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Among the precious items taken was a parcel and gilt rosewater dish, believed to be the sister piece to the famous Wimbledon women’s singles trophy. Other pieces pinched were the Hurlingham Grand Military Polo trophy, statuettes of mounted soldiers and a cavalry trumpet.
The cheeky raid was only found out the next morning by a volunteer who spotted a decorative Halloween skeleton left directly under the hole. The historic artefacts have not been found and police think they’ve been melted down.
Convicted burglar Gallon was a top suspect but when he was arrested he denied ever having visited the museum.
The burglar was finally caught when detectives discovered his DNA on the bottom of a silver cup that he couldn’t squeeze through the hole in the floor. Gallon, from Rotherham, South Yorks confessed to the burglary and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday (March 11). Museum curator Steve Cox criticised the sentence as being “too soft”.
He said: “This man will probably be out on licence in 15 months which is no time at all. There is no deterrence here. The sentence is too soft and we will never get those priceless pieces back.”
Steve thinks the hole was too small to climb through and suspects Gallon may have used a ‘grabber tool’. He added: “It would appear that he cut a hole from the archway underneath the museum and used a grabber tool like a litter picker to reach the items inside the case. All the items which were taken had been on display near the hole. It’s very sad not just for the servicemen but for the community. Some of the items were commissioned by officers in memory of the men who died in the First World War.”
Police don’t think Gallon acted alone and a 24 year old woman and a 47 year old man who were arrested are still under investigation.
Nottinghamshire Police previously shared footage showing how Gallon got into the museum by sawing a hole through the floor between 2.40am and 3.30am.
Detective Constable India Woodrow stated: “The people who did this may have got away with silver, but as we said at the time they have not got away with the crime.”
He added: “We are acutely aware, however, that no amount of convictions or jail sentences can bring back these priceless items, which we know meant a huge amount to veterans and museum staff.”
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