Plea after 'devastating' theft of bronze statues

The owner of a manor house has told how he has been left devastated after a gang stole four valuable bronze statues in a brazen overnight raid.

- Filipa Gaspar

The artwork was plundered from the gardens of historic Iford Manor near Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, in the early hours of Friday.

Four replica classic statues some of which had stood in the grounds for more than a century were taken as the manor hosted a four-day jazz festival.

Thieves stole a large statue of She-Wolf with Romulus and Remus, including the plinth, two Roman deer and a bust of Anti-nous.

The She-Wolf bronze had stood on the grounds for more than 120 years, after it was cast from the original for Harold Peto the Edwardian architect and garden designer whose family acquired the manor in 1899.

William Cartwright-Hignett, the managing partner of Iford Manor Estate, said he was “devastated” adding that the theft was an “affront to heritage”.