Rufford wall thief caught by an Apple AirTag hidden inside a stone
About 30 coping stones vanished from a half-mile Lancashire wall near Rufford Old Hall. Parish councillor Matt Smith hid an Apple AirTag inside one – four weeks later it pinged in Wigan, and a man pleaded guilty.
Forget CCTV. Near Rufford Old Hall in Lancashire, the wall itself grew a tracker.
About 30 coping stones were stolen from a half-mile boundary wall between Holmeswood and Rufford. Parish councillor Matt Smith had tried warning signs; the stretch was simply too long to cover. So he core-drilled a spare stone, resin-sealed an Apple AirTag inside, and waited.
Four weeks later his phone pinged. The tracker was on the move – then settled at an address in Winstanley, Wigan. Police followed the signal, arrested a Wigan man, and later recovered the stones. Residents rebuilt the wall.
Real photo: Rufford Old Hall, Lancashire (3 April 2009) – not the actual wall that was robbed. Photo: George Hopkins / CC BY-SA 2.0 (via Geograph / Wikimedia Commons).
Stock photo: a dry stone wall and stile on Weets Hill (2 Feb 2025) – not the Rufford wall. Photo: Dominic Nelson / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons).
At Wigan Magistrates’ Court the man pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and one of handling stolen goods. He received a 12-month sentence suspended for 22 months. PC Sean Dalby said the AirTag tip had been crucial once CCTV signs had failed.
AI illustration – imagined sting. (Spot Gaz, our gorilla, hiding somewhere in this picture.)
AI illustration – imagined gotcha moment; not the actual stones or thief.
Moral of the story: if you’re nicking half a mile of wall, check the masonry for AirTags first.
Reported by BBC News (5 Nov 2026).
