Retrieving goods seized by Gardai

Fey!

Several years ago we were the victims of fraud, where the fraudster got away with a substantial amount of antique Irish silver pieces and fled to England. This was part of an orchestrated series of thefts/frauds by a family who ran an auction rooms in Galway which netted them several hundred thousand euros.

A couple of months later one of our pieces showed up on ebay in England. Because of the detailed photographs we had of the piece, and the details we had, there was no doubt at all that it was ours. We contacted the section of the Gardai dealing with art and antiques (the department consisted of one Garda detective sergeant), which fell under the NBCI, who then contacted the police in England, who contacted the seller in England.

From what we were told the seller, when he saw our pictures, was in no doubt that the goods were ours, and he turned them over to the police in England. The goods were then supposed to be sent to the Gardai and in turn sent back to us.

The sergeant dealing with it was promoted to inspector and became unreachable. 5 years on, and we still don't have our goods, and we can't get in contact with the Garda dealing with it despite numerous messages left for him.

Can anyone advise me who to contact or how to proceed, as this is going on far too long.

Mods; I am hoping that this isn't going against the charter, as I am not looking for legal advice, just some directions. If it is against the charter I can only apologise.

Thanks.

Avatargh

Fey! wrote: »

Several years ago we were the victims of fraud, where the fraudster got away with a substantial amount of antique Irish silver pieces and fled to England. This was part of an orchestrated series of thefts/frauds by a family who ran an auction rooms in Galway which netted them several hundred thousand euros.

A couple of months later one of our pieces showed up on ebay in England. Because of the detailed photographs we had of the piece, and the details we had, there was no doubt at all that it was ours. We contacted the section of the Gardai dealing with art and antiques (the department consisted of one Garda detective sergeant), which fell under the NBCI, who then contacted the police in England, who contacted the seller in England.

From what we were told the seller, when he saw our pictures, was in no doubt that the goods were ours, and he turned them over to the police in England. The goods were then supposed to be sent to the Gardai and in turn sent back to us.

The sergeant dealing with it was promoted to inspector and became unreachable. 5 years on, and we still don't have our goods, and we can't get in contact with the Garda dealing with it despite numerous messages left for him.

Can anyone advise me who to contact or how to proceed, as this is going on far too long.

Mods; I am hoping that this isn't going against the charter, as I am not looking for legal advice, just some directions. If it is against the charter I can only apologise.

Thanks.

Depending on where the stuff is, do a few searches about the "Police Property Act 1897. The form in the District Court Rules is online - its number 31.A.1

I'm not telling you whether this applies to your case at all, but getting this into Court (yourself), won't cost you much at all. Sometimes just having the issue in Court can make people take notice. For all you know, however, the property is being retained for very valid reasons. However, if no-one will deal with you, they'll at least have to say something in Court.

Kristopherus

You should go to the top. Writ a detailed explanation to the Commissioner and register it.

BaronVon

Kristopherus wrote: »

You should go to the top. Writ a detailed explanation to the Commissioner and register it.

+1

Avatargh

Kristopherus wrote: »

You should go to the top. Writ a detailed explanation to the Commissioner and register it.

See how far it gets you! Just assume you're not the first person to be in this position and I outlined all the above for a reason!