Recently, London Police Service recovered a yellow Brazilian Soccer Jersey signed by PELE and Hugo PEREZ. The jersey was stolen as a result of a break in at a London residence in December 1994, nearly 20 years ago. The owners put in a report in January, 1995 when they returned and discovered the break in. There were other stolen soccer items and jewelry in the break in as well.
The issue was, all records pertaining to the break in report had been purged by the time this jersey was recovered. Both London Police Service and insurance records were gone and the insurance company never paid out for the jersey.
In order to return this item to the property owner, London Police Service needed some kind of authentication of the theft.
Detective Mark McGugan in the Criminal Investigation Division put a request out to all London Police Service members to see if anyone knew about this case, attended the call in 1995, or worked on the case in any way. The only information Detective McGugan had was that two male officers attended the call in the first week of January 1995 and the officers were in their late 20’s or early 30’s. This was the only documentation left from this investigation. It was a long shot.
Anyway, the call for this information was circulated July 17th and answered! London Police Service now has the authentication needed to return the jersey to its rightful owner. Detective McGugan was able to track this down through the duty book notes of retired Detective Childs, formerly of the Forensic Identification Section. An example of the value of detailed report taking and an example of some very good detective work today. The long lost jersey is finally being returned to its owner.