Dear Lucy, stealing plants is a big trade here. There are so many people who have lost specimen plants from their gardens it is unreal. Big Japanese maples are stolen a lot and the rarer the plant the more likely it is to go missing
Unscrupulous Garden Centres will buy them for £800 and sell them for £2-3, 000 at least. There is big money to be made for those that do it. If you get caught stealing a plant from the wild it is an unlimited fine, including your vehicle and in some cases your house. But from someones garden it is a small fine so that is why it is easier. the theft of farm animals has gone through the roof and even the Queen lost 600 cattle from her estate.
The worst to us and the most despicable is the theft of world war one and two memorials. These were made from bronze and had thousands of names on them and around them made from bronze. They steal them at night and simply with a truck pull them out of the ground and melt them down. It is abig business to say the least. The trouble is they cannot be replaced as a lot of the files of the soldiers killed in the first world war were destroyed in a bombing raid in 1941!
A youth was caught recently and he was very flippant to the judge by saying " they came from 1914 who wants them now, they are forgotten." The judge who was annoyed gave him 25 years and told him "you will not forget that."
Neil.
