Over the last year, more than 20 bronze statues have been stolen in the UK with an estimated combined worth of more than Euro 20 million (US$ 24 million). The most recent theft involved Lynn Chadwick’s statue entitled ‘The Watchers’, which was taken from the Roehampton University campus in south west London.

In December last year, thieves stole a piece by world-famous sculptor Henry Moore worth more than Euro 4.3 million (US$ 5.2 million) from the grounds of the Henry Moore Foundation in Hertfordshire, some 30 kilometres north of London. CCTV cameras filmed the three raiders as they used a crane to lift the two-tonne work of art - measuring 3.6 metres long and 2 metres high - on to a Mercedes flat-bed lorry.

The police fear the statue may have been melted down and sold as scrap. On the open market, the metal would be worth around Euro 7300 (US$ 8700). According to Chief Inspector Richard Harbon, the ‘Reclining Figure’ sculpture is regarded as a national treasure. ‘It is a nationally-renowned sculpture and very difficult to get rid of,’ he says. ‘So, obviously, we are looking at all the possibilities, right from scrap metal right up to fine arts theft.’

Given concerns that other statues might become targets for thieves, the famous statue of Eros in London’s Piccadilly Circus is being guarded around the clock. In addition, Scotland Yard is keeping many other famous London statues under permanent electronic surveillance, such as the four bronze lions in Trafalgar Square and the two-tonne statue of Winston Churchill in Woodford Green.