A Police investigation is underway, and a cash reward is up for grabs after a life-sized stag sculpture that is part of a local monument was stolen from an address in Sandown last week.
The sculpture was located on Alverstone Road in Sandown and belongs to local businessman and owner of one of the island’s most prominent road haulage companies, George Jenkins.
He told Island Echo how he had only purchased the stag to go alongside his cannon 18 months ago and is ‘very sad’ to have it taken away from his business and the local community.
Alongside receiving help from the local Police, George thought a ‘substantial cash reward’ paired with the successful prosecution of the thief might provide some incentive and jog some memories as to the location of his beloved sculpture.
Speaking to Island Echo earlier this week, George said:
“We bought it 18 months ago to go alongside our canon, which was 1 of the 6 canons being sold by Fort Victoria about 2 years ago.
“When I saw it, I thought it would suit very well, but we mainly bought it to make the area look nice for Christmas.
“The stag and canon have become a centre-piece for Apse Heath, we planted lots of daffodils around it to make it something people like to see and a proud part of the community, it’s there for children to look at and as a marker for the local community, something that will always be there and leaves a huge legacy.”
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Telling me about the day he collected the canon, George described how it took a team of men armed with a 100 tonne crane and 4 of his haulage lorries to be able to successfully land the war-time artefact at it’s new home – a monumental community effort all in the name of making our roads more enjoyable to travel on.
Going on, George laughed about the fact that it took anyone days to notice the missing landmark, saying:
“It has just been something that is always there, they’re such heavy pieces of metal that you don’t tend to worry about anyone being able to just pick it up and take it away from you.
“It leaves a legacy of us, you never sell it or expect it to be taken from under your nose.
“I thought it would be there forever.”
Giving some background on where his idea for the monument came from, George told Island Echo of how he saw that there were 6 canons being sold by Fort Victoria in Yarmouth and thought it wasn’t right that these pieces of our heritage and history could potentially be bought by someone with no connection to their significance.
George explained that the Woolwich built canons went to a variety of homes, 3 to Hurst Castle in Milford On Sea, 1 remained at Fort Victoria, 1 fell overboard whilst crossing the Solent and the 6th went to him, expressing how pleased he was to have the opportunity to own a piece of the Island’s history and put it on an area of land for passers by to appreciate.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary have said that they were contacted on Monday afternoon with a report that a statue of a stag had been taken from an address on Alverstone Road.
Police have confirmed that enquiries regarding the stags whereabouts are underway, however so far no arrests have been made during the search.
Members of the public are urged to call 101 quoting the reference number 44260220980 should anyone have any information that may support their search or enquiries.
