A one tonne, £200,000 bronze statue stolen for scrap has been found safe in Streatham.

Officers from the Met’s art and antiques unit found the Transformation-Tree of life statue by artist Helaine Blumenfield chained to fire escape railings in the garden of a block of flats on July 10, two years after it was stolen from a fine art trader in 2005.

Detective Constable Michelle Roycroft said officers believed the thieves had taken the statue to sell it for scrap metal but it had somehow escaped destruction.

“This is a significant recovery of valuable bronze sculpture,” she said.

“We can never underestimate the monetary and emotional value of pieces like this to the art world and we would encourage the public to always make the appropriate checks when purchasing works of art.”

So far there have so far been no arrests in relation to the statue find and DC Roycroft said inquiries were continuing.

Posted: 07|21|07 at 6:59 am. Filed under: UK News.