Northern Soul: 'Irreplaceable' record collection stolen from DJ's home

A collection of "irreplaceable" singles has been stolen from the home of a popular Northern Soul DJ.

Ted Massey said burglars broke into his Birmingham home, demanding he hand over the records he had played during a set earlier in the day.

The stolen collection, built up over many years, is estimated to be worth between £150,000 and £250,000, he said.

The rarity of the tracks, he added, would make them "unsellable on the open market".

Mr Massey had played a session at the Rose and Crown in Nottingham, finishing at about 18:00 GMT on Sunday.

"I had played an all-nighter on Saturday so was quite tired and went to bed at about quarter past ten," said the 72-year-old.

He was first alerted to the intrusion by his motion-activated door bell at about 23:20.

"I heard a God-almighty noise, thumping and people shouting and the banging of doors," he explained.

Two men then ran up his stairs, one of them pushing his way into the bedroom, before demanding he hand over the two boxes of records he had played that afternoon.

Mr Massey said the experience had affected him and he had struggled to sleep afterwards.

However, he added he had been touched by the amazing response of the Northern Soul community.

A post on Facebook, detailing his traumatic experience, has had hundreds of messages and shares, leaving him feeling "humbled" he said.

"You don't realise until something like this happens how much people care."

The boxes, containing about 250 singles, were from the "crossover soul" genre - a "more chilled" collection of music, he said.

"I don't think they pinched them for themselves. There are not really that many records in there well-known to the average Joe. A lot of them are quite rare."

The stolen records made up about a fifth of his overall collection.

"The problem is I can't remember everything I put in the boxes," he said, "so I'm going through thinking this isn't there, that isn't there."

Some of the original first issue 45s were worth between £3,000 and £10,000 each, and are irreplaceable said Mr Massey, who during the day works as a laser machinery salesman.

"One of them - Sindicate of Sound, Inc - there's probably only six known copies in this country," he said.

"If somebody tried to sell that on the open market you would straight away get people questioning it and that would happen with a lot of these."

Likening it to an art collection he said the "close knit" Northern Soul community "knows where records are, who owns what and who has bought what".

The collection could be sold abroad somewhere like Japan, he suggested, but would be difficult to play in public as "people are going to know straight away".

The DJ and collector, who plays at venues around the country, with more than 60 bookings into next year, said he had passed video evidence to the police who were now investigating.

West Midlands Police said officers would be reviewing CCTV from around the area.

Three men had also made off with a laptop, car keys and cash, said the force.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]