Grandad used National Trust membership card to burgle stately homes

A grandad who used his National Trust card to case stately homes before stealing antiques from them has been jailed for nine years. Grey-haired Geoffrey Harkin’s biggest haul was more than £1million of porcelain. He was caught by police after attempting to claim a £20,000 reward for a £200,000 antique clock he had previously stolen.

Harkin, 58, was sentenced for handling the clock and for stealing tens of thousands of pounds of antiques from other Trust locations during Raffles-style raids across the UK. When officers arrested him at services on the M62, they found the clock in the boot of his BMW along with his phone, which placed him at the scenes of his crimes.



They also found his National Trust membership card, “an essential bit of kit for a country house burglar”, prosecutor Tim Evans told Carlisle crown court. He added: “Mr Harkin is a professional country house burglar. There is nothing charming or entertaining about these crimes. They are not like the books featuring Raffles.”

Harkin, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, has a long criminal record for theft and dishonesty. Judge Peter Hughes QC told them: “You carefully selected your targets and, posing as an ordinary member of the public, you were, to put it colloquially ‘casing the joint’.”