A prolific thief has been jailed for nearly two years after stealing an orangutan statue worth nearly £800 from a garden centre before making off on his bicycle.
Derek Lundgren, 61, was spotted on CCTV walking out of Scotsdales Garden Centre in Horningsea, Cambridgeshire, without paying for the ornament.
The 61-year-old criminal held the head of the £799 figure as he exited on September 7 before jumping on his bike, placing it across the handlebars and cycling off.
Lundgren, who lived in Sawston, was later caught and pleaded guilty to theft from a shop as well as breaching three suspended sentences.
He was sentenced to one year and 11 months in prison at Ipswich Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
PC Denzel Boachie from Cambridgeshire Constabulary, who investigated the incident, said: ‘Lundgren is a prolific thief who has continued to offend despite being given previous opportunities by the courts.
‘His repeated offending has now caught up with him and he will spend time behind bars.’
Detectives added that the statue was never recovered and it is still not known what happened to it.
Derek Lundgren walks towards the garden centre exit in Cambridgeshire with the statue
He is seen on CCTV leaving Scotsdales Garden Centre by prising open the automatic doors
Lundgren jumps on his bike, placing the ornament across the handlebars and cycling off
Lundgren was sentenced to one year and 11 months in prison at Ipswich Magistrates’ Court
The case has echoes of when two bungling thieves stole a huge gorilla statue from an indoor market in Darlington before being arrested by police just minutes later.
Brian Rumley, 50, and Michael O’Brien, 52, were seen stumbling through the town centre carrying the £399 ornament while passing cans of beer back and forth.
CCTV footage showed the thieves clearly stealing the gorilla and struggling to carry it across town to a nearby flat – before police turned up just three minutes later.
Both men later admitted burglary over the incident in March 2025. Rumley was jailed for 16 weeks while O’Brien was handed three months suspended for a year.
