malcolmm

Hi all I can see everyone on this forum is waiting for more information about the theft, so having just returned home from recovering the boat let me fill you in on what actually happened. Firstly though let me start by thanking everyone who posted positive messages on this forum, or replied to me individually - your contributions were really appreciated, and ultimately it is the publicity through this forum and onward posts to other forums or Facebook that led to the boat being identified 24 hours after the alarm was raised to the community. In particular I owe enormous thanks to the individuals who actually identified the boat in the location where it was found - near bridge 105 on the Staffs and Worcs, not too far from the marina it was stolen from. I won't go into the detail of exactly what happened after it had been found, but I must thank the efforts of both CRT staff and Staffordshire Police last night (Wednesday) once the boat had been found - they were extremely supportive and helpful. The person that stole the boat is a 60 year old male who is known to the police and has previous convictions - I won't be giving his name on this forum though as the police are following up. When the boat was found yesterday he was not on the boat but all, and I mean all, his possessions were piled up everywhere - he had basically moved in. The boat was full of his clothes, prescription medicines, dubious electrical gear, fishing equipment, food, dog food, roll ups - the lot. And there was cigarette ash around the place, including in a cup by the bed. There was also some personal correspondence which had his name on, as did the prescription medicines. However I'm sorry to say that he had removed all of the personal possessions we had on board - everything. Clothes, bedding, tools, books, DVDs, maps, pictures, soft furnishings, the boat manual, service record, our log books etc - everything had gone. And as you will probably have seen from the pictures he had made an attempt to cover up the boat name by overpainting it with red paint which he had bought specifically. However he did not start to overpaint until last week. He is clearly used to narrowboats - he has been managing through locks on his own (presumably) and when mooring had tied up neatly. And the interior of the boat is not in too bad condition - once the interior has been professionally cleaned, and the exterior repained it should look OK. It will, though, never be quite the same boat to us. Anyway it looks like he accessed the boat by managing to pick the yale lock at the back of the boat, which is now damaged and fixed in the locked position. The engine key is more of a mystery but our engine key is by no means unique. At the moment there is no suggestion that he had duplicate keys from anywhere including the marina, or any other individual. However the question remains why our boat out of all the boats? As others have speculated on here why pick a boat in a marina - why not on the towpath. More particularly how did he know our boat was unattended at the time? - we have liveaboards all around us in the marina! At the moment this remains a mystery - to us, and to the staff at Kings Bromley who have been extremely supportive. But we have to speculate that someone somewhere other than the thief knew our boat was unattended. I hope the above explains something of what has gone on. Please though don't now inundate me with further questions as we have a lot to deal with in the coming days and I have done my best to explain what we know. If I have anything more useful to add I'll add it on here when I'm able. Finally then huge thanks again to all those who have made a positive contribution to the boat recovery or provided helpful comments - the boating community collectively pulled together to help and we are very grateful.

Boat has been found by bridge 105 - CRT are in attendance - police are on their way - so are we but we live a long way away. Huge thanks to everyone who has helped, but you'll appreciate there will be no more posts today. Malcolm

THAT IS IT!!! Someone has painted out the rear end in red and covered up the Chilton name - but that's it. Who has the Facebook link, what time was the photo taken? Anyone nearby? Is it still there?

The tank was full so would last for many days - depending of course how many hours a day the engine was run. There is no lock on the tank - however anyone resourceful enough to have stolen our boat from a mooring in a marina would probably have been able to cope with a locking cap. I have today contacted every marina and boatyard within an extremely wide area that I can find details for to ask them to keep an eye open for the boat and let me know if it has visited them for diesel or any other reason. Several people have also been good enough to post details about the boat on their Facebook pages which is much appreciated - many thanks if you are one of those.

Thanks to everyone for their help so far - if it helps I can categorically confirm that the shell was built by Collingwood in Liverpool, final fitting was done by Orchard Marine, and there is no C scroll at the front. Earlier in this thread was a possible sighting from Mickj heading towards Market Drayton - thanks very much for this, any more information you can offer e.g. approx. time of day, anything about the occupant or occupants?

One more picture of starboard side; Engine is Canaline 38 - boat type is a Hanbury Peacock 60 foot, built by Collingwood of Liverpool in Feb 2012. Once again, thanks for any info.

Thanks to all those who have posted. Here are a couple more pictures: We were alerted to the loss by CRT yesterday afternoon, as one of their inspectors had found the boat moored (neatly) just north of Penkridge on the Staffs and Worcs, heading south, last Friday morning, with index number and licence information removed. The same inspector checked again last night - the boat is no longer there. I could post many more pictures but I'm not sure they would help - there are hundreds of boats on the network with similar colouring, many with similar features - but there are no other boats with the name Chilton. The name was applied with vinyl lettering so could now have been removed - but it hadn't been last Friday. Once again we would appreciate any information anyone may have, though if the boat is seen the police should be informed. Thanks all.

Crime reference number is FZ50391-2016. The theft has been notified to Staffordshire police today, their incident number 481. Thanks for any help!

This message posted 19th July - our narrowboat Chilton has been stolen from Kings Bromley Marina on the Trent and Mersey - has anyone seen it? It has been brought to our attention by CRT staff who noticed it on the Staffs and Worcs a day or so ago north of Penkridge, heading south - it came to their attention because the boat index number and licence details had been removed. We have no idea who has taken it or how - however fellow moorers at Kings Bromley think it was taken by 'a thickset man in his 50's wearing overalls'. However we are obviously extremely concerned as we fear it may be being taken somewhere to be resprayed and sold. It is dark blue with a red handrail, and has the name Chilton in a half moon shape at the rear - picture below. If you come across it, please alert CRT staff, who are looking out for it, or the police, who have also been notified. Many thanks!