A BBC TV programme is to feature the unlikely story of the retrieval of the medals of Sir Kenneth Holland, former Chief Inspector of Fire Services for England and Wales, after they were stolen many years ago.

The BBC TV programme, Robbed, Raided and Reunited, is to feature the story of the return of Sir Kenneth Holland's stolen medals after they turned up on auction site eBay, although half of the medals had been sold to a buyer in New Zealand.

Sir Kenneth's son Peter Holland, Chief Fire Officer, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, told FIRE: "My dad's medals were stolen many years ago from my parent's place in Poole, Dorset. He subsequently passed away and as a family we had given up hope that we would ever see the medals again.

"Then I received a message totally out of the blue in March last year from a former colleague of mine from my time in West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Peter Buckland, who said that my father's medals were for sale on eBay. I immediately got onto the police in Dorset and had them taken off the auction site, but unfortunately half of the medals had already been sold and were in New Zealand."

Giving up hope that the medals would ever be retrieved, Peter said he was surprised to see them again. "How wrong I was, as through some great detective work they were returned to England and subsequently handed back over to my brother Keith, sister Jackie and me last October."

BBC's Robbed, Raided and Retrieved heard about the rediscovery through Dorset Police and asked the family to participate in the programme. The close of the film shows Peter and son Paul loaning the medals to the Fire Service College.

 

Photo: Kim Robinson, Fire Service College Chief Executive; Peter Holland, Chief Fire Officer, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service; Paul Holland, Group Manager at the College, on secondment from Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service. Displayed alongside Sir Kenneth's medals are his Coat of Arms and Knights Bachelor

 

Posted April 11th, 2012 at 1340 by Andrew. Comment by emailing: andrew.lynch@pavpub.com