Wheres the Napoli booty?
It seems that several of the Branscombe beachcombers have had their consciences pricked since descending on the shore in their hundreds to crack open crates washed up after the cargo ship MSC Napoli ran aground just over a week ago. Such was the bounty-hunting frenzy that police had to close off the beach, erecting road blocks and fences to keep the looters out. Napoli listings are now banned on eBay. Along with commercial goods, many of the containers were transporting personal possessions. Last week, three Devon men, photographed using bolt cutters to open a crate, admitted to taking crockery belonging to a Swedish couple, Jan and Anita Bokdal. “I wish we had not done it but everyone got caught up in the moment,” said one of them, Michael Wheeler. Others have left items anonymously at local pubs – somebody left a picture and champagne glasses at the Dolphin in nearby Beer – and a donkey sanctuary in Sidmouth has given over one of its fields to police, who will run an amnesty for good
