""I got a phone call asking if I'd heard it had gone and it was confirmed it was gone. "I'm angry, I'm upset and I'm not sure how we would get it replaced, I'm gutted. "It was huge task to raise the money for the statue - to think that it was just for its scrap value, and not even a lot of value.""
""We understand this is a very distressing time for members of our community to have a monument of a local hero treated this way. "I want to assure the public that our officers are working at pace to identify those responsible and will continue to follow every available line of inquiry. "We'd appeal to anyone with information to get in"
A bronze statue of world champion boxer Teddy Baldock was stolen from Langdon Park in Poplar after four people dressed in black pulled it from its plinth and loaded it into a cargo bike, leaving only the boots behind. Police were notified at 20:00 GMT and believe the suspects traveled northbound toward Bromley-by-Bow Underground station. Baldock became Britain's youngest world boxing champion at 19 in 1927, rose quickly in the 1920s, and later fell into poverty, dying in 1971. The statue was erected in 2014. His grandson Martin Sax, who helped raise funds, described being angry and gutted. Officers are investigating and appealing for information.
Read at www.bbc.com
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