Two men convicted of stealing hundreds of bronze plaques from a Holocaust memorial in the Czech Republic are believed to have fled to Britain — but their extradition is not being sought.

Libor Mirga and Petr Hricko were sentenced in absentia to four and half years and three and a half years in prison respectively at a court in Terezin last week.

However a Czech news agency reported that the court from which the men had fled had not sought a European extradition warrant. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said UK police could not undertake any action to find out if the men were here unless they received such a warrant.

Mirga and Hricko and a third man, Miroslav Dano, had been found guilty of stealing 824 bronze plaques commemorating victims of the Holocaust who died at Terezin. Dano had been held in custody.

The three men then sold the plaques to a scrap metal dealer. Their actions caused £62,500 worth of damage to the memorial.

Nearly 220,000 people were held by the Nazis in Terezin and Litomerice, a second concentration camp nearby.