Police hoping to reunite prestigious MBE medal with rightful owner – can you help?
West Midlands Police has today put the word out about a recently-returned stolen medal, hoping to see it back in the hands of its rightful owner.
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The award - an MBE (Member of the British Empire) - was handed to them by an offender who is participating in a crime free programme as part of their strict conditions.
The crime free team targets individuals who are engaged in prolific, non-violent burglary offending.
The participants are given a deferred sentence and enter an intensive community sentence plan tailored to their individual needs.
As part of the programme, the individual is given the opportunity to admit to previous offending, and they must give back the property that was stolen, and by doing this, officers were able to have the MBE handed back.
After inspecting the previous award, the police discovered it was awarded by King George V, and so believe that it's something which may have been passed down through generations.
Since the submission, they've tried to locate where and when the MBE award was stolen from, but have been unable to establish those details.
The force is now turning to the public to try and help reunite this prestigious award with its rightful owner.
PC Paul Welch, from the crime free team at West Midlands Police, said: "This MBE is potentially over 80-years-old, and so we believe that it may have been passed down by whoever actually received the award.
"We have tried to reach out to potential owners and also spoke with St James’ Palace, but we have so far been unable to identify the owner.
“It is a prestigious award, and so we would like to reunite it with the respective owner."
Anyone who thinks they can help with the search, or has evidence to claim it, can speak to West Midlands Police via live chat on its website, or by calling 101 and quoting crime reference number 20/514878/23.
