Appeal after war medals stolen from train

A man has made an emotional appeal for thieves to return his father’s war medals, after they were stolen from a train earlier this week.

The 64-year-old was returning from his father’s funeral on the 11.17am train between Birmingham New Street and Exeter St Davids on Tuesday.

He left his bag, which contained the medals, on the luggage rack but found it missing when he exited the train at Exeter.

The medals were won by the victim’s father (pictured) between 1945 and 1948.

He said: “I inherited these medals from my father’s estate only a couple of weeks ago.

“When I discovered these medals were missing, I felt a complete sense of loss and disappointment.

“Those medals were earned by my father between 1945 and 1948, when he served in North Africa and the Middle East.

“It upsets me that someone is in possession of those medals, who has no idea what my father went through to earn them.”

The bag also contained clothes and various personal items.

Investigating officer PC Gary Archer from Exeter station said: “We don’t believe these medals have any monetary value so will be relatively worthless to the thieves – but their value to the victim is priceless.

“He was understandably distraught to find them missing and so we ask whoever took them to do the right thing and return them to their owner.

“We are reviewing CCTV from the train and working to trace those responsible but if you recognise these medals or know who took them, I urge you to get in touch immediately.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016, quoting 149 of 17/06.