Neely V.C M.M Group Stolen

arnhem44

Just saw today that Thomas Neely's WW1 Victoria Cross and Military Medal group has been stolen from someone who inherited the medals from a relative only weeks ago.Such medals will be very difficult to sell on unless the robbery was done on order.Once again it shows the shallow depths people will go to,hopefully the medals will be reunited with the rightful owners sometime soon.

Link to discussion
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=148987&st=0

Thomas Neely VC MM
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9912197

Dr Strange

Any pictures of the medals? We could put them up here for people to recognise. Might open a thread on stolen medals/militaria and stick it so it can be updated regularly.

arnhem44

Hi Preusse,there seems to be some doubters regarding the stolen medals,myself included.A photo has been posted up on the Great War Forum showing three of the medals in question but not the Military Medal which formed part of the group,the three medals that are in that photo as far as I am concerned appear to be modern replica's.I'm not the only one to be thinking this as it is appearing on different forums now with the same concerns.Some people believe it may be a hoax?,we'll have to wait and see,nothing offical seems to be appearing online considering after all it is a V.C and MM group in question.

Photo in question

Morlar

Is that picture supposed to be 'this is what the medals would look like' or is it 'these are the medals' ??

They do not look real to me, the vc is too shiney and the victory one looks wrong - it looks too orangey to me.

Dr Strange

Militaria collectors and dealers are also targets of well-planned criminals.

Here's a case from Germany in 2005. A militaria dealer and his wife had been murdered and their bodies burned after their house was ransacked for medals and other militaria. The case is ongoing but the police in Paderborn has pictures up of some of the most telling items (scroll down a bit):

http://www.polizei-nrw.de/paderborn/Start/Aktuelle%20Fahndungen/article/Fahndungsaufruf.html


Here's a pdf document released by the police showing the victims and the missing items in detail:

http://www.polizei-nrw.de/paderborn/stepone/data/downloads/68/00/00/pdf-praesentation-mk-bentfeld.pdf


If anyone has seen, been offered or bought any of these items it would be crucial to get in contact with the Paderborn Mordkommission. As a matter of interest to people who may have bought items: the family of the victims is not interested in having the items back. They just want the perpetrators caught and prosecuted.

arnhem44

It has been said on another forum that the medals have indeed been reported stolen to the police.Preusse that's some story about that family in Germany,I can't believe people could take things so far,its disgusting.:mad:

Dr Strange

arnhem44 wrote: »

It has been said on another forum that the medals have indeed been reported stolen to the police.Preusse that's some story about that family in Germany,I can't believe people could take things so far,its disgusting.:mad:

Yes, and it comes down to money. These cases are not isolated. The market is there and valuable collections are targeted quite often. Only recently did the owners of a castle in Germany receive some of their stolen Imperial decorations back. Small consolation but at least the thieves and the pawn broker who was involved in selling them are in gaol now.

arnhem44

Not sure how many are following this story but there seems to be more twists and turns as the days go on.The story gained national newspapers coverage in the U.K.,the Mirror,Daily Mail,the Sun and so on and also the owner was interviewed on Granada TV ,now this story today http://www.crewechronicle.co.uk/crewe-news/featured-stories/2010/07/01/crewe-medal-theft-claim-man-arrested-96135-26766383/

Dr Strange

arnhem44 wrote: »

Not sure how many are following this story but there seems to be more twists and turns as the days go on.The story gained national newspapers coverage in the U.K.,the Mirror,Daily Mail,the Sun and so on and also the owner was interviewed on Granada TV ,now this story today http://www.crewechronicle.co.uk/crewe-news/featured-stories/2010/07/01/crewe-medal-theft-claim-man-arrested-96135-26766383/

That guy's a bollox if he did waste police time on this. Also takes away from the genuine stolen cases shown on fora etc. :mad:

arnhem44

Preusse wrote: »

That guy's a bollox if he did waste police time on this. Also takes away from the genuine stolen cases shown on fora etc. :mad:

I totally agree,he even had the audacity of contacting me via P.M. to complain to me about me questioning the fact that the medals in the photo looked like replica's,in that reply he also said that the medals in the photo was supposed to be what they looked like after saying originally that they were the medals that were stolen.It appears the family of the rightful owners who have the Victoria Cross in their possession contacted the police and informed them that they had them which then led to the arrest.What a dick!

Morlar

What a bizzare story all round. Nice to see it has a happy ending though