Uncovering unusual and surprising crimes in England

The loo theft from the Oxfordshire stately home in September 2019, which saw thieves smash their way in and rip out the art installation hours after a glamorous launch party, is not the only time lavatories have been targeted in the county.

Earlier this year, 13 portable loos were taken from a depot in Banbury, while in 2014, several were removed from locations across Spalding, Lincolnshire, and a whopping £35,000 worth were taken from a firm in Colwell, Herefordshire, in 2023.

It highlights how even seemingly mundane items can become targets for criminals.

Meanwhile, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, a restaurant owner turned detective took matters into his own hands after a spate of burglaries by secretly placing a tracker in a wheel of Brie.

The stolen dairy product was eventually traced to Knaresborough on Christmas Eve.

The holiday season is a prime time for thieves to target the unsuspecting, with Christmas providing the backdrop for another bizarre theft in the county - a tonne of pies, valued at £25,000, which vanished from Michelin-starred chef Tommy Bank's van in Melmerby.

Just weeks before Easter 2023, 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs were stolen in Telford, Shropshire, and, in a separate incident, a shoplifter swiped nearly 800 of the same sweet treats from 19 stores across Hampshire, Dorset and West Sussex.

But what would a thief want with a pair of concrete wellies?

"A hernia", comedian Jimmy Cricket joked in 2013, when his beloved 50th birthday present from fellow funny man Ken Dodd went missing from his garden in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

They weren't "the lightest in the world", said Cricket, who wears Wellington boots marked with the letters R and L, but on the wrong feet, in his act.

Speaking recently, he said: "The story seemed to catch the public's imagination and I suppose it's a testament to the affection and esteem that people around the country had for Ken."

Perhaps that is what made the wellies attractive in the first place.

Given the popularity of Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo, which has sold more than 18 million copies worldwide since it was created in 1999 and been made into a BBC animation, it is no wonder thieves targeted nine statues at a park in Salford recently.

But what exactly do you do with a giant wooden Gruffalo or half of a Paddington Bear for that matter?

Twenty-three sculptures of the Peruvian bear were unveiled last year across the UK as part of a trail but the one in his creator Michael Bond's home town was damaged earlier this month.

Marmalade sandwich tributes were even laid at the site in Newbury but businesses have vowed to replace the family favourite, who was first brought to life in 1958.

"Opportunistic criminals will also be on the lookout for high value items to steal, regardless of how 'novel' they are, for the lack of a better word," said a spokesman for the National Police Chiefs' Council.

Some thefts have been downright farcical though, including the gang that tunneled into a secure vault at a Lloyd's Bank branch on London's Baker Street in 1971.

They believed their heist was a success as they made off with the contents of hundreds of deposit boxes.

However, unbeknownst to them, an amateur radio operator attempting to tune in to Radio Luxembourg had overheard their every move.

Then there were the infamous Hatton Garden raiders, humorously dubbed "Dad's Army" due to their advanced ages.

Experts said their £14m heist in 2015 was "doomed to fail", as they were simply too outdated for technological advances to pull off the plan, with ANPR cameras tracking their every move.

But no matter how quirky, none of these crimes are victimless.

"Even seemingly trivial offences... often have far-reaching implications for the victims," Morton's Solicitors said.

Jimmy Cricket, whose real name is James Mulgrew, said he was "gutted" when his wellies were nabbed due to their "sentimental value".

A farmer caught up in one of the cheese thefts said the process of making that particular product could take years.

"The amount of work that's gone into nurturing the cows, emphasising best farming practice and transforming the milk one batch at a time to produce the best possible cheese is beyond estimation," he explained.

And like any other offence, "even unconventional crimes carry serious consequences", Morton's Solicitor's added.

"Whether it's a diamond necklace or a humble sausage roll, taking what isn't yours can lead to criminal charges."