Statue thieves are far from loveable rogues

1:10pm Wednesday 27th August 2008

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THERE’S nothing really new about the idea of the criminal who deep down has a heart of gold.

It’s the stuff of folklore, just look at Robin Hood and his band of merry men who were, we are are told in the TV series signature tune, “feared by the rich, loved by the poor.”

Their antics, or at least the handed-down and no doubt embroidered stories of them, have given the county of Nottinghamshire a rich tourism theme which has been successfully exploited for many years.

In literature too even Dickens had characters like Nancy in Oliver Twist who was a criminal but had a conscience and a moral code in sharp contrast to the totally evil Bill Sikes and Fagin.

But fiction, or folklore, are where this concept of the good baddie should stay as far as I am concerned.

The reason I raise it is because of the actions of the person or persons who stole a chunk of the 7ft steel statue on the roundabout near Tesco in Hasllingden.

The sculpture called ‘The Workers’ had been created by pupils at Tor View Special Needs School and their design beat 80 others competing for the prestigious position.

When the theft happened this newspaper reported the outraged reaction and comments from police who thought it was another example of thieves not caring what they damaged to get their hands on metal which could be melted down and turned into cash.

But after our report the missing piece of metal was put back on the roundabout with a note and £50 to cover the cost of repairing it.

The note apologised “for stealing drunken” so hopefully these were not sixth formers celebrating a clean sweep of A grades in their A levels!

It also said “we didn’t know the children made this.”

Some might think it’s heart-warming that what appear to be a bunch of drunken hooligans have had second thoughts when they realised they had effectively destroyed the hard work of dedicated youngsters at a special school.

I beg to differ.

These yobs shouldn’t have smashed up the statue regardless of who made it.

And in many countries across Europe, where they do have real community pride, this sort of mindless behaviour just wouldn’t have happened.

I’m talking about all those places where the streets are clean and there aren’t examples of wanton vandalism every few yards.

Perhaps we parents are to blame precisely because we pass on the idea that there isn’t any clear cut morality.

There’s criminal behaviour which is really “just people having a bit of a laugh” and then there is the really serious stuff like bank raids which no-one would condone – oh, unless you admired Bonnie and Clyde!

No wonder the behaviour of some British kids is the shame, rather than the envy, of Europe.