Friday, 28th July 2006 (2891 views)

Mark Murphy, the burglar who stole two gold medals from Olympic rower James Cracknell, has been jailed for three years.

The 30-year-old man, from west London, near to where Mr Cracknell's home is, was found guilty of the theft of property worth more than £24,000 last month.

Although the medals were later recovered from some bushes in the area, in sentencing Mr Murphy Judge Jonathan Lowen described him as "callous", saying the crime had a "devastating effect" on Mr Cracknell.

"You must have realised when you stole them you were taking irreplaceable items belonging to their owner," said Judge Lowen.

"The fact that some of those precious items were later found abandoned, not returned by you, shows how callous you must have been."

Mr Murphy had a previous criminal record, including convictions for theft, robbery, burglary and criminal damage.

The gold medals were awarded to Cracknell for his victories in the coxless fours in Sydney 2000 and later in Athens 2004 and were described as "irreplaceable" by the rower when the theft was originally discovered last March.

 

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