Bidding to find medals owner
The search is on to reunite a collection of medals with their rightful owner after they were found by detectives as part of an inquiry.
Durham Constabulary is appealing for help as part of an ongoing investigation and hopes to find the owner – or owners – of these items.
They were found in a car parked in East Moor Road, in Murton, back on Saturday, December 28, last year and it is suspected by police that they are stolen.
Since then, officers from Pe t e rl e e C I D h ave b e e n searching for information wh ic h c ou l d l ead th e m to the person or persons they really belong to.
T h ey h ave a l s o b e e n c h e c k i n g w i th oth e r fo rces along with information ab out s to l e n go o d s i n th e hope of matching them up with an earlier incident.
Now it is hoped a public ap p ea l c a n h e l p s o l ve th e mys t e r y, w i t h p h o t o s re - leased of the pieces with the aim of sparking someone’s memory.
In the meantime, officers are ensuring they are kept safe ready for when they are finally claimed.
The medals are both British and German and include a West Wall Medal, a decoration of Nazi Germany, which was issued in August 1939 for those who designed and built the fortifications on its western borders.
Detective Constable John Forster said: “We are trying to find out if there is a victim here and we have tried m at c h i n g t h e m u p w i t h crimes in Northumbria and elsewhere, but nothing has come to our attention so far.
"We think someone, or maybe a family member of possibly someone elderly, is missing these.
"T h ey m i g ht n ot b e o f great value, it could just be s e n t i m e n t a l va l u e, b ut i t may be that someone has a memory of seeing them and knows they are missing.”
A s p a r t o f i n qu i r i e s , a 46-year-old was arrested in Murton on suspicion of theft and money laundering in the same month as they were found, with the investigation ongoing.
Anyone who can help officers identify the owners of the medals or have any information that could help with their inquiries is asked to call Durham Constabulary on 101 and ask to speak to Det Con John Forster.
He can also be emailed via john.forster@durham. pnn.police.uk.