THE recent passing of businessman Alan Stuart at the age of 88 brought to mind the audacious theft of the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1950.

Mr Stuart was one of the quartet that made headlines with the deed. The others were, of course, Ian Hamilton, Kay Matheson and Gavin Vernon. The photograph shows, from left, Vernon, Hamilton and Stuart.

It was taken on April 1951, just after the House of Commons had been informed by Sir Hartley Shawcross, the Attorney-General, that he did not think that the public interest required that he should order criminal action to be taken against the culprits. He had, he said., no desire to create ‘martyrs’ or ‘heroes’, though he did describe the affair as ‘deplorable’, entailing ‘vulgar acts of vandalism’ that had caused ‘great distress in England and Scotland’.

As the Glasgow Herald reported, Hamilton, Vernon and Stuart, who were then aged between 20 and 25, took the step, after learning of the Attorney-General’s decision, to identify themselves as the people who had removed the stone and spirited it north of the border.

“A girl was with them in London at the time, they said last night,” the Herald report continued. “Later, speaking by telephone from Kyle of Lochalsh, Miss Kay Matheson (22), a domestic science teacher, said she had accompanied the students.” The three men made their announcement at Glasgow University Union.

A Herald leading article the following day said the whole episode had to be deplored, but that Sir Hartley’s decision was a wise one “in view of the circumstances surrounding the incident, which has already had more public attention than it deserved.”