Boat Owner robbed, Boat set alight when he went for help. Reading Tesco's Mooring 26th August

[nbfiresprite]

Boat owner attacked and robbed by two thugs on his boat while moored on the Tesco moorings in Reading. When he went for help - but a short while later the boat was set on fire and destroyed.

 

The first offender was a white man, around 30 years old, of medium build and around 6ft tall. The second offender was also a white man, around a similar age but slightly taller.

 

Crime reference 43210383018, Investigating officer PC Aimee Usher, based at Reading police station

Get Reading report on Tesco Moorings arson attack

 

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

Boat owner attacked and robbed by two thugs on his boat while moored on the Tesco moorings in Reading. When he went for help - but a short while later the boat was set on fire and destroyed.

 

The first offender was a white man, around 30 years old, of medium build and around 6ft tall. The second offender was also a white man, around a similar age but slightly taller.

 

Crime reference 43210383018, Investigating officer PC Aimee Usher, based at Reading police station

Get Reading report on Tesco Moorings arson attack

 

 

Curious there's no mention of the boat name. 

 

Some moored along there have been 'pushing the envelope' in so many ways for a decade or more. 

[Naughty Cal]

Would be interesting to hear the back story 🤔

[George and Dragon]

Bear in mind it was Reading festival weekend which doubtless attracts all sorts including undesirables

 

[blackrose]

12 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Curious there's no mention of the boat name. 

 

Some moored along there have been 'pushing the envelope' in so many ways for a decade or more. 

 

What's that got to do with anything? It almost sounds like you're implying that if the victim was one of those "pushing the envelope in so many ways" then the attack is less serious or they somehow brought it upon themselves.

 

 

[Arthur Marshall]

47 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

What's that got to do with anything? It almost sounds like you're implying that if the victim was one of those "pushing the envelope in so many ways" then the attack is less serious or they somehow brought it upon themselves.

If someone's boat is parked illegally for a long time in the same spot (and I have no idea if this was the case here), then it is certainly arguable that the owner has increased the chance of it being robbed by their negligence.

You could also argue fairly convincingly that if someone deliberately breaks the law and the rules, they have less to whinge about should they be targeted by other lawbreakers.

Again, I have no idea if this was the case, but "pushing the envelope", as in some places many do, may not make an attack any less serious, but it does make it valid that society should care less about it. An insurance company certainly would.

[dmr]

8:30 am is an unusual time for a random attack, I wonder if the victim and attackers had some sort of connection?

Its good to know these things, if random attacks are going to happen tin that area then we need to take care and probably stay away, if its a private dispute then its slightly less worrying for visiting boaters.

[Hudds Lad]

1 hour ago, George and Dragon said:

Bear in mind it was Reading festival weekend which doubtless attracts all sorts including undesirables

 

Yes, it used to attract myself and my wife-to-be in the early 90’s  

[zenataomm]

56 minutes ago, dmr said:

8:30 am is an unusual time for a random attack, I wonder if the victim and attackers had some sort of connection?

Its good to know these things, if random attacks are going to happen tin that area then we need to take care and probably stay away, if its a private dispute then its slightly less worrying for visiting boaters.

They do say that in violent attacks/murder/attempted murder etc. the aggressor is known to the victim, which suggests history between them like perhaps a deal gone wrong.

However The News often recounts tales of misidentification or got the address wrong during the heat of the moment, especially if hired scrotes are involved to do the dirty work.

Gunshots fired at 'wrong house' in targeted attack, say police | Lancashire Telegraph

Confused drugs lout attacked Scots family after trying to enter wrong house - Daily Record

Intruders at wrong house say sorry | UK news | The Guardian

 

If they can get a house wrong, imagine the potential cock up when the drongoes are told it's a boat parked up next to Tesco, sort of red with stuff on the roof.

Even if they don't get the wrong boat and do focus on the intended victim, what are the chances of Mr & Mrs Blenkinsopp tied up next door twitching their crotched port hole covers to find out what all the row is next door.  Providing the Goths & Vandals with some witnesses that need refocusing  as to what they did or did not witness?

 

No I don't see it as any less worrying for anyone.

[blackrose]

10 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

If someone's boat is parked illegally for a long time in the same spot (and I have no idea if this was the case here), then it is certainly arguable that the owner has increased the chance of it being robbed by their negligence.

You could also argue fairly convincingly that if someone deliberately breaks the law and the rules, they have less to whinge about should they be targeted by other lawbreakers.

Again, I have no idea if this was the case, but "pushing the envelope", as in some places many do, may not make an attack any less serious, but it does make it valid that society should care less about it. An insurance company certainly would.

 

I think everything you've said there is utter nonsense. Firstly, if somebody overstays on the Thames they aren't breaking the law, they're breaking EA mooring rules. That may make you care less if they are physically attacked and their boat set alight but you don't speak for society and I'm not sure your certainty about how an insurance company would see it is correct either.

 

But the point is, instead of expressing any concern for the victim, the first reaction of some people seems to be "well they may have deserved it" which I find rather disturbing. Bring mugged & arson of one's property or home is not the proportioate punishment for overstaying.

 

If you are ever the victim of violent crime I hope people on internet forums have a bit more sympathy for you, whatever the circumstances.

Edited September 4, 2021 by blackrose

[Steilsteven]

https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/arsonists-destroy-houseboat-attack-man-21422991

[Steilsteven]

13 hours ago, George and Dragon said:

Bear in mind it was Reading festival weekend which doubtless attracts all sorts including undesirables

 

There are enough ''undesirables'' in Reading already and some of them are known to us boaters who have had items stolen in the past.

 

Keith

 

[George and Dragon]

14 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

Yes, it used to attract myself and my wife-to-be in the early 90’s  

I went once myself. Hawkwind were the headline act. Must have been early-mid 70s

[Arthur Marshall]

5 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

I think everything you've said there is utter nonsense. Firstly, if somebody overstays on the Thames they aren't breaking the law, they're breaking EA mooring rules. That may make you care less if they are physically attacked and their boat set alight but you don't speak for society and I'm not sure your certainty about how an insurance company would see it is correct either.

 

But the point is, instead of expressing any concern for the victim, the first reaction of some people seems to be "well they may have deserved it" which I find rather disturbing. Bring mugged & arson of one's property or home is not the proportioate punishment for overstaying.

 

If you are ever the victim of violent crime I hope people on internet forums have a bit more sympathy for you, whatever the circumstances.

If you read what I said, as opposed to kneejerk responding, you'll note that I didn't say anyone deserved it.  I said that rulebreakers bear some culpability because of rulebending, and that those who deliberately break the rules of a society don't really have the right to demand protection from other rulebreakers (though of course they do). It is, of course, always nice, if rather hypocritical, to pick and choose which rules you want to follow while demanding others obey all of them.

I also stressed that this was a general point, and that I had no idea if this was the case here.

In another thread, someone approvingly told the story of a boater chucking a generator into the cut when it was running at ten pm,. I didn't notice you leaping to the defence of the genny runner there.  Perhaps a lack of consistency in your responses?

[magnetman]

It's definitely dodgy there. 

 

A couple of years ago I was going up and down the Thames in a little 20ft Colvic with open stern cockpit. 

 

I stopped at the Tesco moorings to grab some rations. Must have been off the boat for about ten or 15 minutes. 

 

I had things like boathooks and oars and a couple of fishing rods from previous owner (I don't fish) on the back by the seating. When I got back to the boat after this short time it was obvious someone had rifled through the items to see if there was anything worth nicking. 

 

I don't bother stopping there any more. There is a Waitrose in Caversham for light rations and a Tesco attached to a petrol station so I just stop up there on the park if I need anything. 

 

Of course the big Tesco  is handy for petrol but I possess no petrol powered devices on the boat now so not needed. 

 

Not surprised about agro at the Tesco moorings as it is basically just a  slum shanty town. 

Edited September 4, 2021 by magnetman

[Neil2]

35 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

I went once myself. Hawkwind were the headline act. Must have been early-mid 70s

 

1975 I believe.

 

I can't remember what year it was but not too long ago we had occasion to moor outside Tesco's when the festival was on, and to my dismay I learned that the headline act was Mumford & Sons.  How did we get from Hawkwind, Wishbone Ash, Rory Gallagher, The Ramones, etc. to bleedin' Mumford & Sons..?

 

 

[George and Dragon]

Indeed. Not that I've knowingly heard Mumford & Sons.

[MtB]

1 hour ago, George and Dragon said:

Indeed. Not that I've knowingly heard Mumford & Sons.

 

 

If you have a think about why that might be, you'd be right!

 

 

[George and Dragon]

possibly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YymGJKhGgY ?