Thief who took the gun must have really wanted it badly. The MG had the block removed, the barrel plugged and the charging handle welded in place. It had sat out side in the weather for 85 years and was starting to degrade. The MG, even though stripped and in an unrestorable condition and impossible to fire, is still classified as a Prohibited Weapon. Penalities for it's possesion include Hanging (Well, that's if the locals caught him
) and 14 years imprisonment if caught by the Authorities. Unfortunately, the penalty for defacing the memorial will be much less than possesion of the gun. Memorials regularly get bad treatment by vandals and used by skateboarders and there's often little that can be done other than shake your fists and clean it up.
The fact that Rydal's memorial retained it's Maxim MG is unusual as many were reconditioned and converted to .303 for use by the VDC (Home Guard) during the early stages of WW2.