Parish councillor Matt Smith took action after thieves targeted a half-mile stretch of boundary wall over several months, opting to drill an Apple AirTag into a stone because installing CCTV was too expensive. Roughly a month later, real-time alerts directed police to an address in Wigan, where they seized the newly taken masonry alongside stones taken from across the country worth up to £40,000. Craig Barker subsequently pleaded guilty to theft and handling stolen goods, receiving a suspended sentence while local volunteers stepped forward to rebuild the landmark.
Key points
Authorities recovered the £7,000 in village stones alongside up to £40,000 in stolen maso…: Authorities recovered the £7,000 in village stones alongside up to £40,000 in stolen masonry sourced from across the country.
Craig Barker received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for 22 months after pleading g…: Craig Barker received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for 22 months after pleading guilty at Wigan Magistrates' Court.
Local residents in the Lancashire community volunteered their own time to rebuild the dam…: Local residents in the Lancashire community volunteered their own time to rebuild the damaged historic structure using the recovered stones.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
An English mayor was fed up with watching 300-year-old coping stones vanish from an 18th-century ancient wall one by one. With no cameras around, pointing fingers or catching the thief seemed like an impossible task.
Matt Smith said people living near Rufford Old Hall in Lancashire "were getting a bit miffed" with stones being taken from the historic boundary wall, spread along a half-mile stretch of road which connects Holmeswood and Rufford in October 2025.
Locals noticed the wall was first attacked and stones were taken in May, with two further raids taking place in June and October. "We looked at installing some CCTV, but it costs and with the wall being attacked at random places at random times, in a half-mile stretch of wall, it was going to be hard to cover that area," the parish councillor said. He said the parish council "put some lovely 'smile, you're on camera' signs up and unfortunately that didn't deter them".
Thus, to investigate and possibly find a conclusion, he put an Apple AirTag, a coin-sized tracking device, inside one of the…
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