Well, I considered warning the WM police that I was going to rock up at the thieves' front door, and ask them nicely to give me back my property. And warning the cops that I expected a breach of the peace to occur, becauase I thought it was likely they would beat me up.

Failing to take measures to prevent a breach of the peace that they had been warned about would be bad publicity, at best.

But I'm not inclined to take on cops and robbers at the same time. Like a circular gunfight, except with me in the middle.

How hard would it be be to get a gun (even a hunting rifle) or other weapons in the UK?

If you did tell the police that you were going to take the law into your own hands, what would happen?

It's never hard to get a gun, you can make a slam fire shotgun at any local hardware store with minimal tools involved. Ammo is another story

1) takes about 3 months and an interview with a police officer, than you can buy whatever you want(handguns are not allowed under any circumstances though)

2) you'd be arrasted, or at the very least told that if you do that, you will be in trouble.