- Detectives said some of the valuables were recovered from an electronics shop
- The Tory politicians’ passports and cash are not thought to have been recovered
Tory peer Mark Lancaster and his wife, MP Caroline Dinenage, have had valuables including a laptop and cash stolen in Chile while on holiday.
The thieves used a distraction tactic known by the police whereby they secretly punctured their victims’ car tyres before pretending to assist them, only to steal their belongings.
The couple were targeted last September in the port city of Valparaiso but the crime has remained under wraps until now.
Detectives confirmed valuables they had recovered from an electronics shop included the laptop stolen from Mr Lancaster.
It was not immediately clear today if British Army reserve officer Mr Lancaster and Conservative MP for Gosport Dame Dinenage have been told the good news.
Tory peer Mark Lancaster and his wife MP Caroline Dinenage were away in Valparaiso, Chile
The couple are understood to have also had their passports taken along with cash and the computer.
They were assisted by police following their bruising holiday experience, which occurred when a middle-aged man stopped to offer them help on a main road after they realised they had a flat tyre.
Prosecutors had launched an investigation into the incident, which coincided with online warnings from the British embassy in Chile about thefts involving perpetrators working in pairs to puncture car tyres and relieve victims of their valuables during distractions.
Visitors to areas like the gritty industrial city of Valparaiso, located on the South American country’s central Pacific coast, were warned to be particularly wary when they stopped at traffic lights where offenders often struck.
Police chief Emilio Donas revealed today that three computers and three mobile phones seized at an unidentified electronics shop in the city included the HP laptop taken from 53-year-old Baron Lancaster of Kimbolton.
He said: ‘We established a commercial premises in the commune of Quilpue was selling stolen goods and managed to recover items which included a HP laptop stolen from a member of Great Britain’s House of Lords on September 23 last year in Valparaiso while he was on holiday in the city.’
A worker at the unnamed business was arrested and is currently on bail pending an ongoing investigation.
The police recovered the peer’s laptop after a search of an electronics shop (Stock image)
Police confirmed that the Tory peer’s laptop was recovered from an electronics shop, however the pair’s passports and cash are not thought to have been recovered.
Mother-of-two Dame Dinenage, 52, once referred to as one of former PM David Cameron’s cuties, fell for Lord Lancaster after leaving her Royal Navy Husband Carlos Garreta.
She became Lady Lancaster of Kimbolton after marrying her current partner.
