Butterfly Thief’s Bizarre International Museum Heist Unfolded in Late 1940s
Farnham, Surrey – A former champion skier, Colin Wyatt, found himself in a bizarre predicament in the late 1940s. Amid a failing marriage and suspicions of his wife’s infidelity, Wyatt turned to an unusual coping mechanism: stealing rare butterflies. The strange saga began when multiple museums across Australia reported a significant number of rare butterfly specimens missing. Melbourne Museum’s George Lyell collection lost 825 specimens, while Adelaide Museum and Sydney Museum also fell victim to …