Coronavirus patient is reunited with stolen Light Dragoons medals taken during burglary
The man, who does not want to be identified, has said he is "over the moon" after sentimental possessions stolen from his home back in January were discovered on a roadside in North Yorkshire last week, leading police to issue a social media appeal to trace the owners.
The medals were stolen in a burglary at the man's home in Barnsley, along with a jewellery box containing his daughter's first teeth.
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Hide AdThe jewellery box, which also contained a commemorative coin stating, "Paige's 1st teeth", was recovered alongside the medals which were discovered by a dog walker near to Eggborough Power Station in North Yorkshire on Thursday.
Officers returned to the area with a police dog, recovering all the items that had been left in the grassy verge including a watch inscribed with the words, "To Thomas Love Dad".
North Yorkshire Police posted pictures of all the items discovered on their Facebook page shortly later.
A spokesman for the force said today (Thursday) that a relative of the family who were burgled got in contact less than two hours after the appeal was posted to claim the medals and jewellery box.
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Hide AdThe owner of the medals, who wishes to remain anonymous, had just been discharged from ICU after being treated for the coronavirus when he heard that his medals had been found.
He said: “I am over the moon as I did not expect to see my medals again – they mean so much to me as they represent my 22 years of service with The Light Dragoons.”
Police Investigator Dave Pegg, Burglary Coordinators for North Yorkshire Police, said restoring the items to their rightful owner was "one of the best parts of the job", but added that the search was still underway for the owners of the other items discovered on the roadside.
He said: “It was an incredible find by both the dog walker and one of our officers and within minutes of us sharing the appeal on Facebook, I was inundated with emails offering helpful advice on how we could help to identify the owners of the medals.
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Hide Ad“Luckily, a relative of the family who’d been burgled recognised the stolen items from the appeal on Facebook and within two hours they’d be in touch.
“It’s one of the best parts of the job being able to reunite victims of burglary with their belongings, especially when they are as irreplaceable and sentimental as a set of medals.
“The power of social media has once again been used for the greater good and I’d like to thank each and every one of our followers who took the time to comment on and share the post or provided information.
“In particular I’d like to give a big shout out to the fantastic community spirit and ‘brotherhood’ of The Light Dragoons as the vast majority of people who got in touch were either serving or veteran Dragoons – with one even offering to clean up the medals for the victim and another getting in touch all the way from Canada after seeing the appeal on a medal collector’s forum.
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Hide Ad“Day in and day out our followers on social media help us to make a difference in North Yorkshire – we couldn’t do it without them.”
The appeal to reunite the remaining items (pictured) with their owner is ongoing. One of the items, a Rotary watch, has an inscription ‘To Thomas Love Dad 1.11.95’ inscribed on it.
If you recognise any of the items pictured, or if you have any information that could help with the investigation, please contact North Yorkshire Police.