The late Flt Lt Sean Casabayo - medals stolen
 

Just to clarify, this is NOT a Gulf War medal as Sean was still in training. However, I suspect this is his GSM "Air Ops Iraq" medal or similar awarded after GRANBY for the other air ops. So keep a good look out for a GSM with the surname "CASABAYO" and service number "8304228L".

Jethro if you're listening in some sort of afterlife; this is a further tragedy and I hope your old man gets your gong back. It's tragic that the scum that stole it are the same ones that you paid with your life to protect....:sad:

LJ

Words fail me.

What utter scumbags could do that?

You said it ExA, complete and utter scumbags.

Sorry to say that in 35 years of medal trading I had occasion to buy medals on a handful of occasions which I subsequently found had been stolen. The sort of people who do this aren't in the least interested in anything but the money they can get for the items they steal. If its an Air Ops Iraq it's worth good money on the open market, so the thief will have no problem in offloading it to an unscrupulous buyer. I'd like to be optimistic about the outcome but experience tells me it's unlikely to turn up.

Taken from a Facebook post:

Good news.

You may well of seen an article in yesterday’s Herald about a war medal that was stolen from the Whitleigh area. This medal belonged to the parents of deceased RAF navigator Sean Casabayo, who was tragically killed in 1999 aged 30.

This theft left the family devastated as the medal was to going to be handed to Sean’s son who was born after his death when he comes of age.

After some fantastic and persistent work from plain clothes officers PC Blackmore and PC Harmer from Plympton Police station the medal was located and returned to Sean’s extremely grateful parents.

This is an excellent example of the officers obtaining community intelligence from the residents of Whitleigh and taking the positive action in retrieving the medal for the family.

Sean’s mother Diane Casabayo told Plympton Police “PC Harmer & PC Blackmore were amazing, I never expected to get the medal back, they were so caring and I cannot thank them enough, I even gave them both a kiss. I would also like to thank PC Dan Pen-Collings for his support when we reported the theft. The Police have done a fantastic job”

Also a local 'paper story here

Brilliant Police work - could RAFA not give them a certificate of appreciation

I sometimes wonder how people could have so little self worth, so little about them that they would do something like this. It's not desperation is it? There are real desperate people in this world who don't steal.
What has gone wrong in their lives. Why do they hate themselves so much ?
I think they meter out their own punishment on themselves. No one is born with such self loathing. I think it's sad that they are this way. They can't be enjoying their lives like the rest of us.

What a happy ending to a very sad story!

Well done, the Police :ok:

Well done to the 'Boys [sshh! who aren't] in Blue' :D:D:D

Rest In Peace again Sean...

Miss you Bayo, still think and laugh about our trips together.

Ivor

Great news.

Great news. I was at Finingbobs with Sean. Ironically he borrowed my copy of Fighter Pilot and I never got it back!

Terrific news - very glad to hear that the medal has been returned!

I read about thus a few days back, and out of interest I made a point of driving past the Ingoe site this afternoon.

Not sure what to expect really, but like so many of your former colleagues their resting place is now just a beautiful cornfield. It would be nice to have something put up just to remind passers by where two young pilots died training to protect their freedoms.

Great News
 

Great News and good work all round. Top blokes.

I am pretty sure I met Sean's sister many years ago in Bristol who was very proud of her brother.

My memory plays tricks sometimes, but on seeing this Thread and the photographs,I was taken back to that time.

TN.

That's a nice thought. In fact these crash sites should be thought of as graves just as much as sunken ships are. One thing though, they weren't both 'pilots' as Sean Casabayo was the Navigator. Like all Navs he would have been proud of this fact, so if we do have small memorial plaques at various sites then we have to get the facts right.

LJ :ok: