Man arrested after burglary at Ben Stokes' house in England

A man was arrested after England Test captain Ben Stokes’ house in Durham was raided by a masked gang while he was on a tour to Pakistan for a three-match red-ball series.

Durham Police shared that a 32-year-old man from North Yorkshire was arrested on suspicion of burglary. He was later released on bail while the investigations are underway, the department added.

Stokes on Wednesday revealed that his children and wife were at home when a group of masked men raided his house in County Durham and stole valuables including the OBE medal, which he received in 2020, a year after guiding England to their maiden Men’s Cricket World Cup title.

In a detailed statement, along with the pictures of stolen items on X, formerly Twitter, the all-rounder appealed the authorities to find those who carried out the act.

“On the evening of Thursday 17th October a number of masked people burgled my home in the Castle Eden area in the North East,” said Stokes.

“They escaped with jewellery, other valuables and a good deal of personal items. Many of those items have real sentimental value for me and my family. They are irreplaceable.

“This is an appeal for any help in finding these people who carried out this act.”

The all-rounder was relieved that none of his family members came to any physical harm but stressed the impact the incident left on their emotional and mental states.

“By far the worst thing about this crime is that it was carried out whilst my wife and 2 young children were in the house. Thankfully, none of my family came to any physical harm.

“Understandably, however, the experience has had an impact on their emotional and mental state. All we can think about is how much worse this situation could have been.

“I am releasing photographs of some of the stolen items — which I hope may be easily identified — in the hope that we can find the people who are responsible for this.

“Although we have lost cherished possessions, to be clear, my sole motivation in sharing these photographs is not the recovery of material items. It is to catch the people who did this.”