Shops' stolen gargoyles are returned to grateful owners

The pair were found wrapped inside a curtain in a boggy marsh by two men beating on a pheasant shoot close to Bagnor last week.
The owner of one of the gargoyles, Liz Chandler, the director of Natures Corner at 9 Bartholomew Street, said that she was relieved that they had arrived home safely, although she added that it would be costly to have them reinstalled in their rightful places above the shops at 9 and 10 Bartholomew Street.
“It will be nice to have them restored to their rightful place,” she said.
“They have been up there for over 100 years.
“I’m very pleased but obviously it’s going to cost us money to get them back up.
“It’s a great shame that people would do that to a historic building, something that had been in place all those years.”
Fortunately, the gargoyles are largely unscathed from their adventure, with damage to one of the tiles used to secure one of them to the roof bearing the worst of the destruction.
Mrs Chandler added that both she and the owners of 10 Bartholomew Street and the second gargoyle, Kerry and Jamie Allen, are keen to get the pair back into the Newbury skyline as soon as possible.
She said: “It was sad to lose them because they are part of the building.
"We both feel that it’s important to get them back up where they belong.”
It is thought that thieves may have dressed as workmen and climbed scaffolding erected outside 10 Bartholomew Street sometime between 5pm on Monday, September 17, and 5pm on Saturday, September 22.
The gargoyle theft came after lead was stolen from the roof of the building several months before.
Witnesses are being urged to contact police if they think they may have seen suspicious activity that evening and reminding people that they may not have been aware that the items were being stolen.
Anyone with information should call the Thames Valley Police 24-hour non-emergency number 101, or anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org