Burglar cut hole in museum floor and 'used a litter picker' to steal artefacts
A burglar who cut a hole in a military museum floor and "used a litter picker" to steal priceless silver artefacts has been jailed.
Graham Gallon, 36, snuck into the grounds of the Royal Lancers & Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum in the Newark-on-Trent area of the county in the early hours of October 29 last year.
He sawed a hole from an archway in the former military stables directly underneath the museum to gain access to a display cabinet.
It is believed Gallon then used a litter picker tool to grab silver items from inside the display case.
Staff say another small hole suggests an endoscope camera was pushed into the case to allow Gallon to identify what valuable silverware to steal.
Among the valuable items taken was a parcel and gilt rosewater dish, thought to be the sister piece to the famous Wimbledon women's singles trophy. Other pieces taken were the Hurlingham Grand Military Polo trophy, statuettes of mounted soldiers and a cavalry trumpet.
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The audacious raid was only discovered the next morning by a volunteer who found a decorative Halloween skeleton left directly under the hole. The historic artefacts have not been recovered and police believe they have been melted down.
Convicted burglar Gallon was a prime suspect but when he was arrested he denied ever having visited the museum. He was finally nailed when detectives found his DNA on the base of a silver cup which he was not able to squeeze through the hole in the floor.
Graham Gallon has been jailed after breaking into the Royal Lancers & Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum (Nottinghamshire Police / SWNS)
A silver piece was part of the large haul of antique silver stolen from a display case (Nottinghamshire Police / SWNS)Gallon, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, admitted burglary and was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday. Museum curator Steve Cox has blasted the sentence, saying it was "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 said he believes the hole was too small to climb through and believes 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."
A silver cannon was also stolen from the attraction (Nottinghamshire Police / SWNS)Police do not believe Gallon acted alone and a 24-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man who were arrested remain under investigation. Nottinghamshire Police previously released footage showing how Gallon accessed the museum by sawing a hole through the floor between 2.40am and 3.30am.
Detective Constable India Woodrow said: "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. Gallon came to our attention very soon in our investigation and I am pleased that we were able to conclusively link him to this offence.
"We do not believe that he acted alone, and our investigation is continuing at pace. 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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