Giant gorilla statue stolen from London hotel

The statue, weighing 160kg, was taken from the Sanctum Soho Hotel.

A six-foot tall fibreglass gorilla has been stolen from a hotel roof in central London.

Two men in high-visibility vests climbed onto the roof of the Sanctum Soho Hotel and unbolted the 160kg statue, known as Ace, before carrying it out of a building site next door at around 9am on November 5, according to witnesses.

Mark Fuller, owner of the five-star hotel near Piccadilly Circus, said: “It’s absolutely as brazen as you like.

The Sanctum Soho Hotel (Sanctum Soho Hotel/PA)

“It’s a dear thing, a real memento to us, and we really, really want it back.”

The statue is reportedly worth more than £20,000 and was installed by crane five years ago, having previously sat outside the Embassy Club in Mayfair.

Mr Fuller, who owns both hotels, realised the gorilla was gone from the rooftop bar when checking the Christmas lights being installed on top of the hotel.

A missing poster (Sanctum Soho Hotel/PA)

A florist working on the Christmas installation told Mr Fuller they saw two men in hard hats and hi-vis jackets removing the statue.

When asked where they were taking it, one of the men allegedly replied: “It’s going in my garden love.”

Builders working next to the hotel said they helped the two men carry the gorilla down to the street through their work site, believing them to be official, Mr Fuller added.

The owner has offered a reward of a week’s stay at the Karma Hotel in Bali, another of his hotels, for Ace’s safe return.

“It’s irreplaceable it’s a piece of history from the Embassy club and my personal history,” Mr Fuller said.

The gorilla’s arm was decorated by renowned tattoo artist Dan Gold. Mr Fuller also shares a tattoo with the statue.

Mr Fuller’s tattoo (Mark Fuller/PA)

“I suppose he’s a bit of a mate now is Ace and we’re missing him,” the hotel owner said.

“We don’t hold grudges and would just appreciate his safe return.”

The hotel has received offers to buy the statue in the past, he added, so he believes the culprit could be a customer who had the statue stolen to order.

(Design photo)

The Metropolitan Police said an allegation of theft from the Warwick Street hotel was reported to them on Saturday November 10 and enquiries continue.

Sanctum Soho Hotel has urged anyone who has seen the gorilla to contact reception on 020 7292 6100.

WILLIAMSPORT. Pa. (AP) — The wife of a former Harvard Medical School morgue manager has pleaded guilty to a federal charge after investigators said she shipped stolen human body parts — including hands, feet and heads — to buyers.

Denise Lodge, 64, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania to a charge of interstate transportation of stolen goods, according to court records.

Federal prosecutors last year announced charges against Lodge, her husband Cedric and five other people in an alleged scheme in which a nationwide network of people bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard and a mortuary in Arkansas.

Prosecutors allege that Denise Lodge negotiated online sales of a number of items between 2018 and March 2020 including two dozen hands, two feet, nine spines, portions of skulls, five dissected human faces and two dissected heads, PennLive.com reported.

Authorities said dissected portions of cadavers donated to the school were taken between 2018 and early 2023 without the school’s knowledge or permission. A Pennsylvania man, Jeremy Pauley of Thompson, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty last year to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property.

Denise Lodge’s attorney, Hope Lefeber, told WBUR in an interview in February that her client's husband “was doing this and she just kind of went along with it.” She said ”what happened here is wrong" but no one lost money and the matter was "more of a moral and ethical dilemma ... than a criminal case.”

Bodies donated to Harvard Medical School are used for education, teaching or research purposes. Once they are no longer needed, the cadavers are usually cremated and the ashes are returned to the donor’s family or buried in a cemetery.

FILE - Denise Lodge, left, covers her face with a printout of the indictment against her as she walks from the federal courthouse, Wednesday, June 14, 2023, in Concord, N.H., following her arrest on charges related to an alleged scheme to steal and sell donated body parts. Lodge, 64, the wife of a former Harvard Medical School morgue manager has pleaded guilty Friday, April 12, 2024, to a federal charge after investigators said she shipped stolen human body parts to buyers. (Steven Porter/The Boston Globe via AP, File)