Former Squadron Leader Philip John Morley Angus, 66, always maintained he simply took home the ‘Lord Dowding’ nameplate from RAF Bently Priory to restore it and had no dishonest intent.
He sold it for £12,000 to David Ewart Jones, 62, boss of Great Central Railwayana, who has also maintained his innocence, insisting he did not know it was missing from the RAF base.
At Harrow Crown Court the jury took only twenty minutes to unanimously find Angus, of Morecambe Lodge, Archenfield Road, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire not guilty of one count of stealing the nameplate between January 1, 1999 and January 1, 2000.
They also unanimously acquitted Jones, of 14 School Street, Woodford Halse, Daventry, Northamptonshire of one count of dishonestly receiving stolen goods between May 24, 2010 and December 31, 2011.
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| Not Guilty: Philip Angus |
Jones was excused from sitting in the dock throughout the trial due to his Tourette’s syndrome and was allowed to follow proceedings remotely from home.
He claimed to be suffering high blood pressure and said he was “distressed and anxious” and unable to leave his house.
However, the trial judge insisted he attend for short period during the jury swearing-in so those who were to try him could see him before the trial was opened by the prosecution.
Now retired, Angus was President of the Officers’ Mess Committee when he took the nameplate from the secure Fine Arts Store over twenty years ago, selling it to Jones in 2011.
His lawyer, Jonathan Reuben told the jurors: “When Philip Angus found the nameplate in 1999 he looked to see if there was a label to identify ownership.
“In his view the plate had been lying in a storeroom for a long time, with no specific owner and no one wanting it.
“It was left to rot, he thought it had been abandoned. He wanted to restore it.”
Jones bought it and later sold it to a collector, along with a matching metal crest in 2013 for £65,000, but when that buyer ran into financial difficulties it ended up in a November, 2017 Tennants auction and was identified to the police.
During the trial, which Jones watched from his home via videolink due to health problems, he told the jury the nameplate “looked a bit of a mess”.
The nameplate was a tribute to WW2 military leader Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding and two of them adorned either side of one of 44 official 1947 ‘Battle of Britain’ Class steam locomotives.
Lord Dowding’s step-son David Whiting loaned the nameplate and accompanying crest to RAF Bentley Prior in 1990 for their Battle of Britain 50th anniversary exhibition.
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| Cleared: David Jones |
Bently Priory, in Stanmore, north London was the HQ of Fighter Command during the successful defeat of Germany’s Luftwaffe in 1940.
A copy was made of the nameplate and it was eventually secured to the wall outside the officers’ mess, with the original held in a secure vault in the Fine Arts Store.
Jones maintained during the trial he did not associate the nameplate he bought from Angus with the missing one loaned by Lord Dowding’s step-son.
“It was crystal clear from the condition of it that it was not the same plate, because I knew David Whiting’s plate was fully painted up, restored and polished and this one was in very poor condition.”
Prosecutor Mr James Keeley told the jury at the start of the week-long trial that Mr. Whiting requested the return of his family heirlooms in 2006.
“The crest was returned, but the nameplate could not be found and it was reported stolen and the RAF conducted their own investigation, without identifying a suspect or the location of the nameplate.”
However, the nameplate was identified at the auction and police found the last owner was a railway memorabilia collector, who had bought it from Jones.
Jones had assured the customer of the item’s provenance, reeling off a long list of seemingly genuine previous owners in Brighton, Devon and north London.
“He told the customer it had taken him several years to reunite the nameplate and the crest,” the prosecutor told the court.
“The customer was interested, but was concerned because he was aware that there had been a Lord Dowding nameplate stolen from Bently Priory.
“Mr Jones went through a list of people who had owned the nameplate, the last being a north London collector, who had screwed it to the side of his garage.
“The name of the first private owner of the nameplate was still visible, painted on the inside, said Mr Jones, who said there were no worries the nameplate was legitimate with a chain of owners.”
When police visited Jones he revealed he had bought it from Angus, who was questioned by officers at Charing Cross Police Station on May 15, 2018.
“He said in 1999 he served at Bently Priory as the President of Officers’ Mess Committee and agreed to dispose of some old memorabilia.
“He found the Lord Dowding in a storeroom and asked a senior officer if he could take the nameplate home to restore it.
“It was kept in a store area, he said, but due to work pressures and medical issues he did not complete the restoration and retired in 2000.
“He told the police he had a clear-out of his garage in 2011 and found the nameplate, which he said no-one wanted and had been lying around in an RAF storeroom for a long time.
“The prosecution say you can be sure he stole the nameplate and Mr. Jones bought it and knew he was dealing in stolen goods,” Mr. Keeley told the jury.
Coincidentally, Jones was approached in 2010 by the nameplate’s owner Mr. Whiting for a valuation as he sought compensation from the RAF for losing the heirloom.
“We know that in 2011 Mr. Jones buys it from Mr. Angus and in 2013 sells it, knowing it is the same nameplate he gave a valuation for as it was either lost or stolen.
“When he was interviewed by the police he said he did not inform Mr. Whiting about it because he did not think he would be interested anymore.
“He also denied giving a verbal chain of previous owners of the nameplate to the customer who purchased it.”
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