Regretful: Thief returns gold-plated weatherbird after nearly 25 years

Nearly 25 years ago, the gold-plated weatherbird disappeared from the world The village of Bessan in southwestern France – Now a remorseful thief has returned the iron weather vane in the mail, the district attorney's office explained Tuesday. Gendarmes in Florencec said they identified the thief who removed the gold-plated iron rooster from a cross on April 1, 1999. Rafael Balland, Public Prosecutor in Béziers.

He is a man born in 1975 who admitted to the robbery, which was carried out for fun on a drunken evening. The public prosecutor said that after that he did not dare to return it until he recently discovered the piece in a cache in the basement of his house, without revealing the identity of the perpetrator.

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However, he can no longer be tried under criminal law because his crime has passed. Therefore, the Public Prosecutor suspended the proceedings.

The weatherbird reappeared at the end of November – in a parcel addressed to “Mr. Galinassi” (German: M. Hohn), which was sent to the local historian Michele Sabatieri it has been delivred.

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The mayor of Besan said that Sabateri “kindly” informed the municipality after receiving the package, which in turn summoned the public prosecutor's office. Stephane Pepin Bonnet. They immediately began an investigation, which made it possible to identify the sender. The weather bird was sent to a post office in the same department and postage was paid by credit card.

The rooster will take his old place on the cross again. According to Mayor Bipin Puneet, this time it must be “properly secured so that it does not fly away again.”

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“It may be a matter of youthful stupidity and the story has a happy ending,” he said. However, at the small ceremony marking the return of the weatherbird, he will emphasize that “such things are part of the heritage of this village.”