The gang with the stolen guns: Bond firearms taken in raid
Owner devastated after thieves make off with prized collection of 007 movie memorabilia
FIVE guns fired by 007 actors in James Bond movies have been stolen from a house in north London.
The collection, which included a Walther PPK, used by Roger Moore in A View to a Kill, and a laser sighted Beretta used by Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day, were stolen from a collector.
Police were called to a property in Enfield on Monday after reports that a group of eastern Europeans had forced their way into a house.
The suspects grabbed the collection, which is valued in excess of £100,000, and fled the scene after being disturbed by neighbours.
The weapons are all deactivated but are extremely rare and have huge sentimental value to John Reynold, 56, who works in engineering and had built up his collection over 15 years.
He told The Daily Telegraph that the props were destined to go into the Royal Armories Museum collection in Leeds.
He said the burglars initially intended to steal car keys before stumbling across the collectibles. “They were all unique, one-of-akind weapons adapted for the actor in question,” he said.
“They had a significantly high value, which came out of my pocket. The personal cost to me with repairs is thousands. To put it plainly, this has broken me.”
The stolen guns include a Beretta “Cheetah” from Die Another Day, a Walther PPK which featured in A View to a Kill, a Smith and Wesson 44 Magnum used in Live and Let Die, and a Llama 22 and a Beretta “Tomcat” automatic pistol seen in Die Another Day.
The Walther PPK was one of the world’s first prominent double-action semi-automatic pistols, and is still widely in use. The “Cheetah” was favoured by Italian police and prison officers in the Seventies, while the .44 Magnum also appears in Dirty
Harry. The Llama 22 calibre handgun is now increasingly valuable as Llama has been defunct since 2000.
John Paul Green, a principal lecturer at the University of Sunderland and a Bond expert who has written four papers on the franchise, said the stolen guns are “part of cinematic history”.
“The Walther PPK is absolutely synonymous with Bond. It’s introduced in the very first film, and it’s a gun favoured by Bond himself. But there’s nothing particularly special about the other guns, other than that they’re in James Bond films.
“They are part of cinematic history so there’s obviously a collector’s market for these props. The gun is an extension of Bond’s costume and an extension of Bond himself.”
Det Insp Paul Ridley said: “The firearms stolen are very distinctive and bespoke to particular James Bond movies. They will almost certainly be recognised by the public and to anyone offered them for sale.
“I have provided the unique serial numbers. Many of these items are irreplaceable. For example, the Magnum is the only one in the world ever made in which the whole gun is finished in chrome. It has a six and a half inch barrel and wood grips.”