In their statement, Wiltshire Police thanked the owner of a reclamation yard in Gloucestershire. The owner of the yard promptly called the police after recognising the statue, on a television appeal about the theft, as one sold to him earlier in the week.
A 17 year old boy has been arrested in connection with this theft and other offences. It will be interesting to see what else we can discover about the theft in due course.[1]
Since the theft, there has been a mobile CCTV van in the town, as seen in the photograph below, looking after our sheep statue.
A news report on the evening edition of BBC Points West on October 3 featured an interview with Rochard Cowdy the sculptor of the pig statue (and coincidently the sheep statue above), said that while he doesn't have the original mould, he could easily model it again. Luckily that won't be necessary now that the statue has been recovered, especially as Mr Cowdy no longer has a foundry, meaning that a new statue would have needed to be cast in Basingstoke, which would have increased the cost to a few thousand pounds. The estimated value for the current pig statue, which is hollow, was around £200 - it would be interesting to know how much money changed hands between the thief and the reclamation yard owner.
As of this afternoon, October 6 2017, the pigs are now on their way back to Calne Town Council, who are working to get the statue base repaired, and then reinstated as soon as possible, after the plinth is modified[3][4]:
I for one can't wait for this statue to be reinstated in its rightful place. As I mentioned in my previous post about this theft, children, including my own son, like to play around on the statue. This time when my son does that, I'm going to take a photo to treasure along with my memories.
Updated to add: There's a detailed news report on the Gloucester Live website available here.
References:
[1] Bronze pig statue stolen from Calne has been recovered. 2017. Bronze pig statue stolen from Calne has been recovered. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.wiltshire.police.uk/news/appeals/4189-bronze-pig-statue-stolen-from-calne-has-been-recovered. [Accessed 06 October 2017].
[2] BBC Points West, 2017 [TV]. BBC 1 West. 3th October.18:30.
[3] Calne Town Council. 2017. In Facebook Calne Town Council. Retrieved October 6, 2017, from https://www.facebook.com/CalneTC/posts/1482445948510061
[4]
BBC Wiltshire. 2017. In Facebook Calne Town Council. Retrieved October 7, 2017, from
https://www.facebook.com/BBCWiltshire/videos/839130292923096/
