Ex-Gambling Addict Reunited With Sword He Sold

A Sandhurst graduate who sold his coveted "sword of honour" to fund his online gambling addiction has been reunited with it after two years.

Justyn Rees Larcombe received the sword - handed annually by the Queen to the top student of each course at the military academy - in 1992.

But in 2012, at the height of a gambling addiction which cost him £750,000 and a six-figure job in the City, he sold it for just £200.

The ex-Army major, 46, from Tonbridge in Kent, thought he would never see the sentimentally-priceless item again.

He'd held it at his wedding day and had planned to pass it down through the generations.

Yet in a chance encounter, a retired Kent-based Army officer-turned-military-collector found the sword in a shop in Leicester.

He tracked down Mr Larcombe using his local newspaper to alert him to its whereabouts, because he was confused as to why anyone would let it go.

The sword has now been bought back by Mr Larcombe - and takes pride of place above his fireplace.

He said: "The loss of my sword was so symbolic. In 2012 I had hit rock bottom and sold the sword.

"But now I have it back, it feels like such a healing thing. It feels like I have come full circle.

"My primary aim in life now is to highlight how dangerous gambling can be."

Mr Larcombe's family were reunited this Christmas, and he says his "recovery now feels complete".

He now works as a consultant in London and volunteers for a debt advice service.

He has written a book about overcoming his troubles called Tails I Lose.