Historical Spot: Stealing Destiny

The Stone of Scone, an ancient symbol of Scottish kings, was taken to England in 1296 where, for 700 years, it was used in the coronation of all British monarchs. But in 1950, four Scots stole it back. To mark the death of one of the bandits this month, we look back at their daring heist

Kay Matheson, who died this month at the age of 84, was one of four students who, on Christmas Day 1950, "reclaimed" from Westminster Abbey the Stone of Destiny (also called the Stone of Scone), on which the ancient kings of Scotland were crowned.

Weighing about 152kg, the block of red sandstone had been forcibly removed in 1296 from its seat in the monastery of Scone, a few miles north of Perth, by Edward I as a spoil of war.

It had since resided under the royal throne in the Abbey, emphasising the role of English kings as overlords of Scotland.

But the election of a Scottish Nationalist MP in 1945 sparked renewed interest in the Stone's ideological significance. In 1949, the Scottish Convention, a broad-based movement of Scottish nationalists, led a petition to reform the constitution of Scotland and establish a home-rule parliament, gaining two million signatories within a year.

It was against this background that Ian Hamilton, a 25-year-old student at Glasgow University, recruited Matheson, then a 22-year-old domestic-science teacher, and two other students, Gavin Vernon and Alan Stuart, to retrieve the Stone in the name of Scottish independence.

Hamilton planned to hide in the Abbey at closing time and admit his friends under cover of darkness. They would then carry the Stone to Matheson, waiting in one of two getaway cars, and escape to Dartmoor.

A first attempt, on the evening of December 23, ended when a watchman discovered Hamilton and ejected him. The next day Matheson was taken ill with influenza, so Hamilton arranged for her to stay at a nearby hotel until the crew needed her. Then, just after 4am on Christmas Day, they entered the Abbey while Matheson remained outside.

As they prised the Stone loose, about a quarter of it split off. Hamilton ran to the car with the smaller piece and returned to help the other two lift the rest. Then Matheson started the engine, raising the alarm. A policeman had spotted the car and come to investigate. Hamilton dashed back to the front seat, and the pair posed as lovers to allay suspicion.

The policeman stopped to chat. Scraping noises emerged from the Abbey, but Matheson and Hamilton overlaid them with loud merriment at the man's jokes, holding his attention until the danger passed.

It was then decided Matheson should take the smaller fragment of the Stone to Oxford, where she had a friend whom she thought might take them in. Hamilton returned to the Abbey and the second car, where he lighted upon Vernon and Stuart, who had fled when the policeman arrived on the scene.

Vernon departed for Warwickshire while the other two headed on with the rest of the Stone - their car springs sagging under its weight. They buried it in a woodland embankment about 3km from Rochester and began the long drive to Scotland.

Meanwhile, Matheson struggled to negotiate the unfamiliar route to Oxford, being forced to stop for directions several times. Eventually she realised her repeated inquiries would leave a trail for the authorities to follow, and struck out instead for the house of an English friend in Birmingham.

The journey was long, at one point stalling altogether when the car boot swung open and her piece of the Stone fell out.

On arrival, she left the car and its contents at the friend's house and went to Scotland by train.

The theft of the Stone launched a nationwide police hunt, during which the border between England and Scotland was closed for the first time in nearly 400 years.

Although the police issued a description of Matheson's Ford Anglia, the Stone vanished from public view for the next four months. In the interim, Hamilton arranged for the two parts to be reunited, and on April 11 1951 the authorities discovered it, draped in a Saltire (the Scottish flag), on the altar of Arbroath Abbey in Forfarshire.

The police subsequently detained all four perpetrators, but no charges were brought.

Hamilton became a QC; Vernon emigrated to Canada and died in 2004; while Stuart, the youngest, retreated into anonymity.

Matheson resumed her career as a teacher, but bore a permanent reminder of their endeavours: during one of the lifting operations, the Stone had fallen on her foot, breaking two toes.

She claimed to have no regrets - "apart from losing my toes, but I'm managing all right without them".

On November 30 1996, 700 years after its removal, the Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland, in a ceremony presided over by Prince Andrew at Edinburgh Castle.

Matheson was the only one of the four to attend, watching the Stone as it made its way along the esplanade, borne on a Land Rover and flanked by members of the Royal Archers.

"It was all worth it," she said. "If we hadn't done it we would not be here today.''