Lou is right, it was the dies that were nicked. They are very big and very heavy and the metal is quite valuable. They had been stored out in the yard for a long time, years in fact after they were brought back from the company that actually pressed the panels in batches. The thieves never entered the factory itself.
They were taken at a point where a lot of metal was going missing (the manholes from an entire area were stolen one night about this time) because metal prices had shot up. It is quite usual for dies to be stored like this. I know one pressing company that currently has about 20m worth of dies stored out the front of their factory, probably best not to name them on the internet.
I should imagine that if Christopher Balfour 'clammed up' it was probably more that he was speechless, and didn't think it worth continuing a scurrilous conversation. Christopher would be much too polite to do anything other than ignore a comment like that.
You have to ask yourself who would a) know some thieves b) tell them to steal the items and c) not expect to be blackmailed for ever and a day for doing so afterwards. It is an interesting conspiracy theory but I think that is all it is.
I have been around the factory as has another of the BOC HT trustees and I can tell you that everything that should be there is, and there are no dies anywhere in the building or yard so that rather questions the 'recovered' theory which isn't one I had heard until I saw it here.
Regards
Paul
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