‘ Canal boat boy’ jailed for stealing Camilla’s great grandma’s £ 127k jewels
A LIFELONG criminal dubbed “canal boat boy” has been jailed for burgling a castle and stealing treasures collected by the Duchess of Cornwall’s great- grandmother.
Clinton Bowen was one of four men who raided 15th- century Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds – but he was the only one to be caught.
Bowen, 39, got his nickname after being sent on a long waterways trip in a failed bid to cure him of crime.
He was identified by DNA on a balaclava- like “snood” left in the gardens of the castle, where Henry VIII’s sixth wife Catherine Parr is buried, during the raid in September last year.
The thieves took £ 127,000 worth of artefacts on display which had belonged to Camilla’s greatgrandmother Alice Keppel, mistress of Edward VII, who died in 1947, aged 79. Among them were gifts from the king including a gold snuff- box valued at £ 8,000; a gold, enamel and jewelled snuff box worth £ 50,000; a £ 40,000 gold snuff box; a £ 15,000 fob watch by Cartier and a £ 4,000 silver cigarette case.
Bowen, of no fixed address, had denied being involved in the burglary near Winchcombe, Glos.
But CCTV footage of the day before the raid showed him scoping the grounds, while the snood, found near tracks from a getaway vehicle, tained traces of his saliva.
He was to have stood trial at Gloucester Crown Court this week but yesterday changed his plea to guilty and was given four years in jail.
Bowen started offending as young as eight, when he featured on BBC Crimewatch. In 1997, aged 15, he was sent on a three- month canal boat trip costing £ 12,000.
The soft treatment handed out by social services to Bowen and three other young criminals prompted a national furore.
The others were “safari boy” Mark Hook, “pyjama boy” Vincent Smith and “pocket money boy” Casey Bowen. All four have remained regular offenders in the county.
Judge Mark Horton said the burglary of the castle, now owned by Lady Ashcombe, was “highly organised and targeted extremely expensive jewellery, some of which is priceless”. con