I dont know how it works in the UK, but, here, if you record the serial number, you stand some chance of getting it back. It goes onto the NCIC crime list, and, it may be years before it turns up. Then, pity the poor bastard who is stuck with it. However, without the number, you have a better chance of being run over by a herd of Dodo birds on an ice floe in Guam.