Two missing gnomes “doing time” in an Angus police station were released without charge on Friday.
Lamont Forbes picked up his gnomes at Arbroath Police Office and immediately put them under house arrest.
The two large gnomes were among a family of five which had taken up residence this week alongside Robert The Bruce and Bernard de Linto on Arbroath’s Declaration statue.
Mr Forbes spotted the gnomes in The Courier and believed four of the gnomes on the statue had been stolen from his Friockheim garden.
He made a dash for the statue on Thursday morning but they had gone and Mr Forbes was left wondering if he’d ever see his beloved gnomes again.
But it emerged on Friday that the ceramic figures had been picked up by council parks staff from the statue and were handed in to the police station.
The Courier called Mr Forbes to tell him the good news and he made his way to the police station to collect them on Friday afternoon.
However, it turned out that only two of the five were his which means three will remain at the police office until their owner comes forward.
Mr Forbes was able to take his two gnomes home in time for dinner – not that they needed it after a day spent “doing porridge”.
Mr Forbes said: “I didn’t think I’d ever see them again so it’s fantastic to be reunited with them.
“What a journey they have been on.
“It’s just a shame they had to spend time behind bars before they could come back home.
“Two of them are mine but it seemed a shame to leave the other three behind – I just hope their owner comes forward soon.
“To make sure they don’t go missing again I’m going to keep them in the house until I can make them secure again in my garden.”
Mr Forbes, who is retired, is well-known in Angus for his voluntary work with Guide Dogs, which saw him receive an MBE from The Queen.
He said the two larger ceramic figures – which he picked up on Friday – were taken by thieves at Hogmanay while two of his smaller gnomes were taken overnight on Tuesday.
However, those two gnomes remain at large.
Some have suggested the gnomes appearing in Arbroath could have been what is known as a “travelling gnome prank”.
That’s the practice of returning a garden gnome “to the wild” which involves taking it on a trip and photographing it at famous landmarks.
