Gems from NFL legend’s stolen Hall of Fame ring recovered and prolific burglar jailed

A hotel burglar, who admitted trying to sell American Football great Andre Reed’s Hall of Fame ring, has been sentenced to prison.

Thanks to the persistence of a City of London Police detective the gems have been recovered and with the successful prosecution can be returned to Mr Reed.

Gary Towsey, 39, of no fixed abode pleaded guilty to one count of burglary, one count of handling stolen goods, one count of fraud by false representation and failure to pay. He was sentenced to 25 months at Inner London Crown Court.

Towsey pleaded guilty to:

• one count of burglary from a hotel room on 1 December 2023;
• one count of handling stolen goods and one count of fraud by false representation relating to items stolen from Mr Reed’s room on 7 October 2023; and
• one count of making off without payment on 8 September 2023.

Mr Reed was in London ahead the Buffalo Bills game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. On Saturday, 7 October 2023, Mr Reed and his wife returned to the Leonardo Hotel and found their hotel door open.

High-value jewellery had been stolen, including a unique Hall of Fame ring, valued at over £35,000. A Gucci bag, jewellery and both of their passports were also taken, which meant that they could not return home on their scheduled flights. This also caused Mr Reed to miss a paid private engagement and he lost £10,000 in earnings. The monetary cost to the Reed’s was over £60,000 in stolen jewellery, extra stay costs and loss of earnings.

There was no evidence found that linked Towsey to the scene of the crime. Towsey was, however, caught on CCTV entering a jeweller’s in Leeds on 23 October 2023, attempting to sell the distinctive Hall of Fame ring. He was wearing the ring and had the victims’ Gucci bag around his neck. The staff refused to buy the ring as their manager was not present to authorise the deal.

Towsey walked a couple of doors down to a pawn broker, who also refused to buy the ring. Undeterred, Towsey then asked for the ring to be dismantled and between the jewellers and the pawn brokers, the ring was taken apart and handed to Towsey.

The following day, staff at the jeweller’s becomes suspicious of the transaction and searched for details about the ring online. They contacted Mr Reed via social media and he confirmed that the ring was stolen. The information was passed back to the City of London Police who were building their case.

Andre Reed, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014, said in his victim impact statement:

“My Hall of Fame ring was totally unique and meant so much to me. There was only one and it was so very special having been made and presented to me in recognition of all of my NFL sporting achievements. I am really proud of that and I cherished it as I know how much personal effort, hard work and sacrifice I had put into my playing career.

“I am now totally gutted that I will never see my ring again. It really upsets me at the thought of the ring being dismantled and sold on. I hope all those concerned are held responsible for their actions.

“The ring is priceless, it was one of a kind and cannot be replaced. It is so unique and unusual that I am surprised it wasn’t identified for what it was. If you search the internet, you will easily find all of the details about it and lots of photographs. It would be impossible for somebody who stole it not to know what it was and the true value of it.” 

An NFL UK & Ireland spokesperson:

“We would like to thank the City of London Police for their partnership in this investigation and their hard work and professionalism in bringing this offender to justice.”

A burglary at the hotel was reported on 1 December 2023. The victim had returned to her room after a Christmas function to find a man, now known to be Towsey, stood in her room. He initially claimed that it was his room, before admitting it was not. The victim fled to her parents room nearby and security was informed.

Whilst Towsey was in the room, he had drunk several bottles of alcohol. He fled, leaving the bottles and a motorcycle helmet behind.

Kimberley Williams, who found Towsey in her room said:

“I came back to the room at 10.30pm when the door to my hotel room was slightly open. I then pushed the door to the room where the man was standing on the right side by the table. He made out it was his room but I challenged him and he said ‘oh yeah it actually is your room’. I ran to my step mum’s room and phoned reception.

“I had jewellery that had been stolen which was a necklace, a pair of earrings with a few rings  out on the table by the coffee  He also took used underwear and socks. This incident had made me feel uncomfortable, vulnerable and very upset.”

Items stolen included silver jewellery valued at £1,000 and the victim’s used underwear was also taken. City of London Police forensic team attended; the bottles and crash helmet were forensically recovered and matched Towsey. He was also seen on CCTV at the hotel on that date, wearing the Gucci bag stolen on the 7^th of October.

The case has been led by Detective Constable Al Collins who has spent hours piecing together the information to bring around a successful prosecution.

DC Al Collins, City of London Police, said:

“This is the type of job you get into policing to solve. Our team has never lost sight of the victims, both at home in the UK and the Reeds in the states. Anyone staying in the City should feel they and their belongings are safe.

“We will always take this type of criminality seriously and thoroughly investigate all evidential leads, including forensics, to bring those perpetrators to justice.

“It isn’t always possible to recover people’s belongings that have been stolen so to be able to recover the gems from Mr Reed’s priceless sentimental ring is really gratifying We look forward to returning the items to him as soon as possible.”

DC Collins tracked Towsey down to HMP Pentonville on the 15 May 2024, where he was serving another conviction. He refused to come out of his cell for an interview, but DC Collins accessed Towsey’s booked in property and found a blue stone encrusted with six white stones and a further 22 loosewhite stones, all from the stolen Hall of Fame ring. When Towsey was released from prison on the 4 June 2024, DC Collins met him at the gate and arrested him.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mandy Horsburgh said:

“This case exemplifies excellent police work by recovering priceless stolen jewellery and demonstrates our priority of keeping the victim at the heart of everything we do.

“Due to the hard work and dedication of our officers a prolific burglar who preyed on hotel guests is now behind bars. Our staff followed every lead and used detailed forensic techniques to identify Gary Towsey as the culprit and bring him to justice.

“The City is a great place to visit and thankfully the number of thefts from hotel rooms is low. However, anyone committing this kind of crime will be relentlessly tracked down and put before the courts.”