Stolen Alan Turing memorabilia, once offered to CU Boulder, to be returned to England
DENVER — Federal officials say they have reached a deal to return several possessions of the mathematician Alan Turing to his boarding school in England after they were recovered from a home southwest of Denver.
Homeland Security investigators initially seized the items in late January from the home of Julia Turing, who is not related. According to court documents at the time, Julia Turing approached the University of Colorado-Boulder in early 2018 to ask if it would be interested in displaying several items from Alan Turing’s life, including his knighthood medal, his doctoral degree from Princeton University and several notes and photographs from his time at the Sherborne School in Dorset, England.
Archivists at the University library determined that the items were stolen and notified authorities, who found the items in Julia Turing’s home in Conifer.
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According to court records, Julia Turing visited Sherborne in 1984 during a larger study of Alan Turing’s life and asked to see his archive. School officials said they found a note underneath the box after the theft, reading: “Please forgive me for taking these materials into my possession. They will be well taken care of while under the care of my hands and shall one day all be returned to this spot.”
Julia Turing changed her last name from Schwinghamer in 1988, according to the complaint. A former biology teacher at Sherborne said Julia Turing claimed she was Alan Turing’s daughter when he gave her a tour of the school.
In court filings this month, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Colorado said it reached a settlement out of court and the items will be returned to the school.
Alan Turing was a leading codebreaker for British intelligence services during World War II and is considered a forefather of computer science and artificial intelligence. He died in 1954 from cyanide poisoning, two years after he was chemically castrated by the British government as punishment for being a homosexual, which was a crime at the time.
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