Thief silent over Olympic footage

Zac Purchase, right, won gold with Mark Hunter

A thief has kept secret the identity of a burglar who stole footage filmed by a mother of her son winning Olympic gold.

The footage was on a camera owned by Sara Holyer who filmed her son Zac Purchase as he crossed the winning line during the Beijing Games.

Andrew Dearth was jailed for 20 months for theft and handling Mrs Holyer's bank card, stolen along with the camera, which was not recovered.

But Dearth refused to tell Plymouth Crown Court who gave him the card.

'Priceless value'

The digital video camera was taken from Mrs Holyer's home in Plymouth in August last year and was never recovered.

It showed Mr Purchase and his rowing partner Mark Hunter winning gold in the lightweight men's double sculls on 17 August.

The court heard Dearth, 43, of Warburton Gardens, Plymouth, was given the card by someone who owed him money and he used it to withdraw cash.

Dearth admitted handling stolen goods and two counts of theft.

Judge Francis Gilbert said he accepted that Dearth had not committed the burglary but said that if he had helped police identify the person who gave him the bank card, the "priceless" footage could have been recovered.

He said: "Also stolen from the victim, and more upsetting for her, was a video camera containing footage of her son winning a medal at the Olympics.

"It illustrates that items which may have little value themselves often have priceless value to the loser.

"If you had told police who gave you that card they may have been able to get that camera."