Man who absconded whilst on trial for £500,000 rare coin theft begins prison sentence

A man who absconded whilst on trial for conspiring to steal £500,000 worth of rare coins has been arrested and jailed.

Clinton Bowen, aged 44 and previously of Ironbridge Road, Twigworth was arrested on Sunday night (11 January) after officers attended an address in Cheltenham on an unrelated matter.

One of the attending officers, PC Sam Jones, recognised Bowen, who gave false details when questioned, however further checks in custody confirmed his identity.

Bowen had been wanted on court warrant since February last year (2025) after he absconded whilst on trial at Gloucester Crown Court for conspiracy to commit burglary.

The trial related to an incident in March 2024 where £500,000 worth of rare coins were stolen from a Northamptonshire property.

In court it was heard that Bowen had hatched a plan, alongside other co-conspirators, to burgle the house of a coin dealer.

The gang had arranged a meeting with the victim on the pretence of wanting to sell him a private coin collection.

Whilst Bowen distracted the victim, one of the gang placed a tracker on his car in order to ascertain where he lived. 

Two weeks later, on the night of March 10 2024, four masked burglars broke into the coin dealer's house while he and his wife slept upstairs and stole £500,000 worth of coins.

The victim, who was woken up by the commotion inside his house, bravely pursued them, attempting to stop the gang's stolen getaway car before one of them stabbed him in the leg, causing him to back off. 

The burglars, who had removed the tracker from the man's car, escaped, but not before the victim had made a mental note of the number plate. 

Following an investigation by Northamptonshire Police, Bowen was suspected to have been one of the co-conspirators involved in the burglary and he was arrested and charged.

Bowen had been in attendance at court until the penultimate day of the trial, when he absconded.

A warrant was issued for his arrest by a judge and Bowen was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison in his absence. He is then believed to have travelled to Spain.

Appearing again at Gloucester Crown Court on Monday (12 January), Bowen's original sentence was confirmed and he was also handed an additional two-month consecutive sentence for breaching his bail in February 2025.

Temporary Detective Inspector Carrie Benbow said: "Thanks to vigilance of PC Sam Jones, who recognised him, Bowen is now beginning his sentence behind bars - where he rightly belongs.

"His cowardly attempt to escape justice by fleeing overseas only served to increase his sentence.

"I hope the victim in this case will now find some peace in the knowledge that Bowen is off the streets for a long time."