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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Steven Morris

Lovejoy episode helps antiques dealer identify stolen Napoleon III artefacts

Webb and Gostelow hold the plaques
PC Mark Webb with Derbyshire antiques dealer Paul Gostelow and two of three altar plaques stolen from the crypt of Napoleon Bonaparte III in a Hampshire monastery in 2014. Photograph: Hampshire Constabulary/PA

Two priceless artefacts stolen more than a decade ago from the crypt of Napoleon III in England have been recovered after an antiques dealer realised he had them while watching a repeat of the comedy drama Lovejoy.

The wooden 19th-century altar cards were taken in a burglary at St Michael’s Abbey in Farnborough, Hampshire in February 2014 and were feared lost for ever.

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