The Equalizer gets even with burglars

He may be a veteran these days, but when actor Edward Woodward discovered his London home had been burgled he could not suppress his hardman image.

The 74-year-old actor, who starred as a spy in Callan and a private eye in The Equalizer, had £60,000 worth of antiques stolen when his Surrey house was burgled.

"I wanted to beat the living daylights out of them," said Woodward, who was away on holiday when the breakin happened on Christmas Eve.

But his anger turned to joy after he recovered some of his lost property at a police "antiques roadshow".

A bronze figurine and an ornate wooden box containing spirit decanters, worth £1,200, were among 4,500 items put on a display after being recovered by the Met in raids on warehouses.

Woodward, who is married to actress Michele Dotrice, had joined hundreds of others at the exhibition in Suffolk last weekend when he found his stolen goods - and, to his delight, discovered his favourite brandy, gin and scotch were still inside the decanters.

But there was no sign of his other lost property - Dotrice's jewellery, several bronze statues, a massive porcelain lamp and Woodward's collection of 50 antique walking sticks.

"It was an entirely salutary experience," the actor said. "I went into this enormous room which looks like an Aladdin's Cave with masses of jewellery, furniture and more paintings than I have ever seen.

"It made me realise I was not the only one. You read about robberies all the time but here I looked around me and the newspaper quotes leapt off the page and became a reality."

Woodward, who has lived in his Georgian house in Shepperton for four years, added: "The whole thing was a terrible shock and my initial reaction was one of overwhelming anger at this appalling intrusion.

"I wished I had been there - I would have had no compunction at all in getting stuck in - although my wife and children would not like to hear that.

Michele was upset and weepy - one of the items stolen was a beautiful opal ring I had bought her in Australia for a special occasion.

"But as time went by and we got over the shock we realised we were lucky we weren't there and no one was hurt.

"We have recovered a couple of items with large sentimental values - it's better than nothing."

Hundreds of other items at the exhibition have been returned to their owners and have led to criminals being charged.

War veterans have been reunited with medals and galleries and museums have recovered countless items.

Ds Vernon Rapley, head of the Met's Arts and Antiques Unit, which carried out the raids over two years, said: "We are delighted that Mr Woodward has been reunited with some of his stolen property like so many other rightful owners.

"However, we believe that hundreds more victims could still potentially be found and we would urge anyone who has lost art or antiques in a burglary or theft to come forward."

The next roadshow is in Swindon from 28-30 April.