Alleged medals thief remanded

Some of the 843 medals stolen from the Waiouru National Army Museum. Photo / supplied

A man charged with stealing hundreds of medals from the Waiouru Army Museum over a seven-year period entered no plea when he appeared in Wellington District Court today.

Former museum employee Keith Davies, 57, is charged with stealing 843 medals, valued at an estimated $256,000, between 1995 and 2002.

He is also charged with unlawfully exporting New Zealand antiquities, obtaining property by deception and false accounting.

Police said there was no link between the alleged thefts and a highly-publicised case in which nine Victoria Crosses and 87 other medals were stolen from the museum in 2007.

Davies, a medal collector and former territorial soldier, was arrested after he voluntarily returned to New Zealand from Australia last month.

He entered no plea when he appeared before Judge Tom Broadmore in Wellington District Court today and was remanded on bail to reappear on October 6.

Davies did not comment outside the court.

His arrest came after a global investigation that lasted more than a year.

Police allege many of the medals were on-sold to collectors. They have recovered about 300 so far.