A grade II listed monument has been restored to its original glory after it was seized from a drug dealer.

The National Crime Agency said it found the 16ft (5m) high gothic Glassby Arch in the garden of Maurice Turrall’s house in Mexborough, South Yorkshire.

Turrall is on-the-run and currently believed to be in Spain.

The arch was built in 1860 by Queen Victoria’s sculptor Robert Glassby, who also worked on the Albert Memorial in London.

The NCA said Glassby built the arch for a local businessman, John Reed, and it remained in his garden for more than a century.

A local councillor then bought the arch and it was taken piece by piece to the house on Church Street, which would eventually become Turrall’s.

‘Dramatic history’

An NCA spokesman said the wanted man tried to sell it on eBay, with a starting price of £1,100, but Doncaster Council granted a preservation order.

Last year, two men tried to dismantle the arch but police tracked them down and the missing pieces were returned.

The arch was seized in 2013 and has now been carefully pieced together by local stonework specialists at its new home – the site where Robert Glassby was born in 1835.

Andy Lewis, from the NCA, said: “The arch has had a dramatic history and that carried on even after we seized it as part of our civil recovery investigation.

“While we were in the process of sorting out where it would be moved to, someone Turrall owed money to tried to steal it and hold it for ransom.

“We don’t often take possession of something which is so clearly meaningful to a community and we are really glad to have had the opportunity to help return it where it belongs.”