A thief who left an American soccer legend feeling “completely gutted” by dismantling his stolen Corridor of Fame ring to attempt to promote its gems has been jailed for greater than two years.
Andre Reed, who performed as a large receiver for the Buffalo Payments within the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties, reported that the ring and different valuables, together with passports, had been stolen from a room at London’s Leonardo resort final October.
Gary Towsey, 39, was sentenced final week by interior London crown courtroom to 25 months in jail after admitting prices of dealing with stolen items and fraud. There was no proof linking him to the Leonardo resort break-in, however he additionally admitted a separate resort housebreaking.
Towsey was captured on CCTV sporting Reed’s ring and a Gucci bag that had additionally been stolen from Reed’s room, as he entered a jeweller’s in Leeds. He tried to promote the ring, which was valued at greater than £35,000. The jewellers refused as a result of there was no supervisor there to authorise the sale.
Towsey then walked a few doorways right down to a pawnbroker, who additionally refused to purchase it. However when he requested for the ring to be dismantled and handed again to him in components, each retailers helped to interrupt it up for its jewels.
The subsequent day suspicious workers on the jewellers contacted Reed on social media, when he confirmed the ring had been stolen. The data was then handed to Metropolis of London police.
Towsey was arrested the day after he was launched from jail for an additional crime.
The gems have since been returned to Reed.
In a sufferer impression assertion, he mentioned: “My Corridor of Fame ring was completely distinctive and meant a lot to me. There was just one and it was so very particular having been made and introduced to me in recognition of all of my NFL sporting achievements. I’m actually happy with that and I cherished it as I understand how a lot private effort, laborious work and sacrifice I had put into my enjoying profession.
“I’m now completely gutted that I’ll by no means see my ring once more. It actually upsets me on the considered the ring being dismantled and offered on. I hope all these involved are held chargeable for their actions.
He added: “The ring is priceless, it was one in every of a form and can’t be changed. It’s so distinctive and weird that I’m shocked it wasn’t recognized for what it was. For those who search the web, you’ll simply discover the entire particulars about it and many pictures. It might be unimaginable for any person who stole it to not know what it was and the true worth of it.”
Reed, 60, was in London for a Buffalo Payments recreation towards the Jacksonville Jaguars on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In a social media publish concerning the housebreaking he mentioned he felt “unsafe and violated”.
