The trophies used at last week’s MTV Awards were tonight reported to be back in the safekeeping of police after being stolen earlier this week. Thieves swiped 21 gongs, worth about £6,500, from MTV headquarters in Oxford Street, central London, on Monday or Tuesday.
The awards, which were replicas used during back stage photocalls, had been returned to London after the ceremony in Frankfurt last week where British stars picked up six prizes
There were no signs of forced entry at the building and no descriptions of suspects.
They were found dumped next to a skip by dance student Jay Brown, 18, whose father runs a nail salon in the same building, according to reports.
“I thought they had been thrown out. It didn’t occur to me they might be stolen. I don’t want to get in trouble,” he said.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “I can confirm that officers investigating the theft of a number of awards from a premises in Oxford Street have been contacted by a national newspaper which had taken possession of the awards.”
He could not confirm whether police had yet collected the gongs as claimed in The Sun, but added:
“The officers have thanked the paper concerned for its assistance and will of course return the awards to their rightful owners in due course.”