A prized picture of The Beatles was stolen from the Vincents’ Club after the Varsity Boxing Match this Easter.
The match, which took place on 6 March, was the 101st Varsity Match. Oxford won with a resounding victory of 7-2, having won all of the first five bouts, meaning that they had secured a win by the half time interval.
Stuart Garman, the Oxford Amateur Boxing Club’s President, said, “The photograph is of the Beatles standing at the Vincent’s Club bar, and is a valued part of the Club’s heritage.
“The photograph was stolen on the night of our 101st Varsity boxing match, which was a particularly busy night in Vincent’s; full of many current members, ex-boxing Blues – and a sizeable group of Cambridge Hawkes members.”
The 12” by 12” photograph shows the Beatles with Jeffrey Archer on 5 March 1964, nearly 44 years before it was stolen from the Vincent’s Bar from which it was taken.
The police were alerted to the theft at the time but as there was not substantial evidence for them to follow the thiefs, they are not investigating it.
Oxford police spokesman, Toby Shergold, said, “A theft of a photo from Vincent’s club was reported to us. Police are not currently investigating the incident, because there’s no evidence for us to go on.”
He added, “We have spoken to witnesses and looked for forensic evidence. There is no CCTV and there are no leads, but the case isn’t closed, so if anyone passes us any information on the suspects or the whereabouts of the photo, we will look into it.”
Garman added, “Whilst I would avoid pointing the finger at anyone, I would like to think that no member of Oxford University who was present that night would have taken the picture. It is a shame from the perspective of OUABC that the theft marred what was otherwise a hugely successful evening, both in terms of our Varsity victory and the hospitality of Vincent’s Club afterwards.”
The Vincent’s Club Ex-President, Robert Payne, who was in office at the time, said, “We have reported the theft to the police but have no leads on its whereabouts.”
Cambridge University’s Amateur Boxing Club was unavailable for comment.
