CCTV footage released by Avon and Somerset Police on December 11, 2025 shows men carrying bags outside a building housing museum items in the early hours of September 25 in the city of Bristol, UK. HANDOUT / AFP
More than 600 items, including military medals and jewellery from a collection documenting the links between Britain and countries in the former British Empire, were stolen from a UK museum in September, police said Thursday, December 11. Avon and Somerset Police have launched an appeal for information about four men captured on security cameras on September 25 outside a building in the southwestern city of Bristol, which housed items from the collection.
"More than 600 artifacts of various descriptions were taken by the offenders," police said in a statement about the theft from the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection. "The theft of many items which carry a significant cultural value is a significant loss for the city," said the officer in the case, Dan Burgan. "These items, many of which were donations, form part of a collection that provides insight into a multi-layered part of British history," he added.
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