[CPProt.net] Four-tonne rock stolen by art thief

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

Four-tonne rock stolen by art thief 

A four-tonne, eight-foot high rock from a Chelsea bronze medal-winning
garden has been stolen.

The rock had a stained glass window in it and was taken from the yard of
garden designer Ian Taylor.

Mr Taylor said he could not believe that thieves must have used a crane to
move it from the yard in Thornbury, Bristol.

Mr Taylor, 40, said: "The last thing I expected was someone to have stolen
the rock. It's mind blowing.

"I think it is in a garden in the area and I reckon the customer will have
paid someone a lot of money and will have bought it without knowing it is
stolen."

He said he thought it was possible that the thieves used images of the rock
- used in his garden called Mother Earth at Chelsea Flower Show last year -
to sell it.

There was a pair of identical rocks, and the second stone was now broken,
which Mr Taylor said he thought could have happened when thieves were trying
to remove it.

"It is a work of art, it is magnificent - what is it coming to when people
are stealing stones?"

He said it would have cost a lot of money to use the equipment needed to
move the stone, which was valued at about £5,000.

A spokeswoman for Avon and Somerset police said that the theft had been
reported and was being investigated.