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The alarm was raised early on Boxing Day. Police patrol cars were ordered to be on the look-out for a Ford Anglia saloon, which was last seen at 5.15am; the car’s occupants were thought to be a man and a woman “said to have Scottish accents”. Hotels, boarding houses, and restaurants were searched by the CID. Road blocks were set up on the routes into Scotland. The authorities were determined the perpetrators should not escape from London. There had been warnings in the past that something like this might happen. And now it had. Seventy years on, the Stone of Destiny and its removal – or “liberation”, “theft”, “restoration”, whichever word you prefer – from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950 has become one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of Scotland’s constitutional affairs.
It remains one of the most daring heists in British criminal history carried out by four fresh-faced students from Glasgow University. It was a crime that struck at the heart of the British establishment and threatened to derail the future coronation of the present Queen. Those responsible faced charges of treason and their story was splashed across the front pages of the world s newspapers.
READ MORE: The theft of the Stone of Destiny had taken place in London. However the police investigation centred on Glasgow and led in turn to one of the city s biggest ever security operations. The drama first unfolded in the early hours of Christmas Day 1950.
Stone of Destiny: Robin Hood-style band of nationalists struck a blow for Scottish pride
The Stone of Destiny theft in 1950 forced the closure of the border between Scotland and England for the first time in 400 years. December 24, 2020, 10:20 am
The Stone of Destiny was taken from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950 and eventually turned up in Arbroath in April 1951.
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The Stone of Destiny theft in 1950 forced the closure of the border between Scotland and England for the first time in 400 years.