Irish tourist who stole a €35k ring by swallowing it – and how he was made give it back* (*not a tale for the squeamish!)
AN IRISH tourist who was accused of trying to steal a €35,000 diamond ring by swallowing it was told by police in Turkey that he’d have to have surgery to remove it – if nature didn’t take its course.
Ian Campbell, 54, was in a jewellery shop in the resort of Marmaris when he allegedly snatched the ring before trying to run off.
A shop assistant locked the front door before he could escape but the Co. Down man popped the valuable piece of jewellery in his mouth and swallowed it.
Police took him to Marmaris State Hospital, on the orders of a prosecutor, and told doctors they would have to operate to retrieve the ring if it was not returned ‘by natural means’.
An X-ray revealed the 2.5-carat diamond inside Mr Campbell’s stomach and he spent several hours eating, drinking and walking with a police escort to help the ring find its way out.
However, after 24 hours, he was forced to undergo a colonoscopy and the ring was retrieved.
Turkish authorities yesterday remanded him in custody after initially deciding to release him pending trial following an objection by the prosecution. He is now in a pre-trial detention centre.
According to local media, Mr Campbell explained his actions by claiming that he has become ‘obsessed’ by diamond rings since his wife died in a tragic car crash.
He is said to have told police: ‘I’ve been coming to Marmaris on holiday for a week every year since 2004. I was forced to retire in Ireland after a workplace accident I experienced seven years ago.
‘I lost my wife in a traffic accident in Ireland. Her body could not be removed from the car, which fell into a lake, for days after. Her diamond ring, our wedding ring, could not be found despite a search operation in the lake. This incident caused my obsession for diamond rings.
‘Whenever I see a diamond ring on display at jewellery shops, my wife comes to my mind.
‘I feel a strong urge to take those rings, especially the ones with higher carat diamonds.’
Reports in the Belfast Telegraph from 2014 stated that a mother-offour died after her car plunged into a canal in Newry.
‘Patricia Campbell from Newry was a full-time mother,’ it read.
‘Patricia, 50, had two sons and two daughters aged in their late teens to early 20s. She also leaves behind her husband Ian.’
It reported that police said the black-coloured car she was driving entered the canal several miles along the Fathom Line on the road to Omeath in Co. Louth – a ‘treacherous’ stretch of road that had claimed the lives of many other road users over the years.