He's at it again?

[Nightwatch]

Just arrived back from a week away.

 

Arrived at the boat on Good Friday, which wasn't if you read on, and found that we had suffered a break in.

 

I won't go into detail but six brass slide bolts have been broken, two sercurity bars bent with doors and hatch distorted. In addition our cratch cover is damaged, torn etc.

 

All this for a bottle of red wine and about £15 in twenty pence pieces.

 

Everyone I spoke to believe it sounds like our Mr Finch who has been doing this sort of thing for many years. He gets caught, court and either prison or suspended sentance. Then does it all over again.

 

As an aside I will be putting Craftinsure to the test.

 

Any comments?

Hi to David whom we met on out travels.

 

Martyn

Edited April 18, 2009 by Nightwatch1

[Keeping Up]

I'd comment that in my experience Mr Finch doesn't usually cause that much damage. He usually only breaks into boats that are fairly easy to get into (as most are) and leaves them alone if they have security bars etc. Also having forced an entry he is unlikely to do any further damage. I suspect it was somebody else.

 

When he broke into our boat many years ago he did a total of £4.50 damage, and in doing so he highlighted for me a security weakness which I have since remedied; in doing so he may have saved us considerably more money in the future. He also cleaned the boat and left it tidier than we had done ourselves, so quite good value for money really.

[BlueStringPudding]

He also cleaned the boat and left it tidier than we had done ourselves, so quite good value for money really.

 

Perhaps he'd like to come round ours!? Wish I could get a cleaner for £4.50

[fuzzyduck]

IF you see him, my cabin doors will be left open, the sponges etc will be under the sink, and there is a bottle of scotch under the saloon cushions.

[Nightwatch]

I still think it is probably is either MR Finch or as suggested a clone.

 

The boat was good and tidy after the event. The person had gained entry through the side hatch as the front doors have a security bar as does the stern door and hatch. regarding the stern,the hatch had been pulled as far as possible to gain access through the forward end of the slider, bending the bar. The front dors have been attacked and forced with a "jimmy" or similar pinging the locks top and bottom, out of view is the horizontal security bar whch has been bent in the process. The side hatch is the type that has two doors opening outwards with the top hatch covering the top of the doors and is then "secured" with two slide locks. Being brass and soft in comparison to steel they have just given way. Inside the two side doors there is a large pane of safety glass which has been lifted and placed neatly on the settee.

The money that has been taken was in a small pot shaped like a Buckby Can with a stopper in the bottom. The money has been removed and the stopper replaced as if "he" hadn't been there.

 

Apart from the above there is no other damage except for the cratch. This has suffered damage by being unzipped and being pulled against the restrainers which in turn has torn the material.

 

There was an attempted break in about a year ago when all three access points were damaged but they hadn't got into the side hatch that time.

 

Scenes of crime attended and also we were visited by a PC yesterday evening. I don't think they will catch the chap who did us, but I ask anyone who suffers this to report the incident so the the police can hopefully get a pattern of travel etc. The boat next to us was also entered but the owners have decided not to report it.

 

Martyn

 

All I am saying is that there are many people who believe they suspect they know who did this deed.

 

I have my beliefs.

[mrsmelly]

Just arrived back from a week away.

 

Arrived at the boat on Good Friday, which wasn't if you read on, and found that we had suffered a break in.

 

I won't go into detail but six brass slide bolts have been broken, two sercurity bars bent with doors and hatch distorted. In addition our cratch cover is damaged, torn etc.

 

All this for a bottle of red wine and about £15 in twenty pence pieces.

 

Everyone I spoke to believe it sounds like our Mr Finch who has been doing this sort of thing for many years. He gets caught, court and either prison or suspended sentance. Then does it all over again.

 

As an aside I will be putting Craftinsure to the test.

 

Any comments?

Hi to David whom we met on out travels.

 

Ah yes Mr Finch

 

Me thinks he is a bit like the Jesse James gang who reportedly broke into three banks all at the same time in three different states !! I wonder if he runs fast all day along the towpath ?

[Nightwatch]

Meaning?

[mrsmelly]

Meaning?

 

Well its not Rocket science it simply means he has always will always and is always blamed for ALL uk breakins many times whilst still in prison. Its the nature of the beast the same happened to messers James and gang yes he may well have done yours but many other people also may have done it.

[Nightwatch]

I hear what you are saying, however, is he in prison?

 

Our incident has all the hallmarks of him or as I have already said someone who is cloneing his actions.

 

How many people would just break in for booze and a small amount of cash, and leave other small valuable items. Now removed by the way.

 

I have never met this guy nor do I wish him harm, if he did do our boat, and I'm not sure he did, I am only suggesting this all appears to be similar to his work.

 

If he is found "red handed" so to speak at another incident, he has a tendancy to admit other jobs, I wouldn't be at all suprised that ours was in fact him.

 

The Police have visited the boat and taken evidence, even though they haven't suggested it is our friend they haven't ruled him out either.

 

The Guy needs help. he spent a couple on months in prison over the winter months as, I believe, normal practice and is now possibly up to his normal tricks.

 

If it wasn't our boat that he has aledgedly turned over, I would then, as before, look at him as a sort of folk lore character. A bit of cad! eh!

 

Martyn

[the grinch]

basic information is missing from your post OP

 

LOCATION!

towpath, non towpath, marina?

 

it is always helpful to tell people where it occured as it may help form a pattern

Mr Finch was doing boats 15 years ago mainly in the Buckby area and as said his

usual pattern was easy to break into boats

[Nightwatch]

Hello

Our boat was at our Home moorings at the time of the incident. Non towpath side. At Elkintons Lock there is a stile (spell check please) onto the farm next door that then leads to the farm where the boat is moored. The owner of the mooring has been trying for years to get his neighbours to change the stile to a locked gate. Only persons going to the moorings need to have access. (Waterways Key?)

 

It happened sometime between March 5th and April 10th. however the stern cover was off and there was very little water in the engine compartment suggesting more recent. The owner of the moorings does do "patrols" of the moorings periodically and can't recall seeing the cover off before.

 

Who knows apart from the person who did this.

 

Martyn

[the grinch]

As OP still wants us to play hunt the lock !

i have looked it up !!!

 

it is on Southern Oxford between Napton & Cropredy so well within the hunting ground

of our favourite boat breaker!

[Nightwatch]

So sorry

Thought everyone knew the lock.

 

The lock is just to the south of Clattercote Wharf which is where the boat is moored.

Clattercote Wharf is approx 1 mile to the south of Claydon bottom lock.

 

Now every one knows where this vulnerable boat is located.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not really, I have put bolts through everything.

 

martyn

[David Schweizer]

Hello Martyn, it was good to finally meet you and have a chat, although it would have been better if one of the subjects under discussion had not been the break in.

 

I have also had my boat broken into by Mr Finch, and just because he doesn't always cause much damage, does not mean that he never causes any damage. He broke a window on my boat causing £200 of damage. He stole my cagoule and two tins of soup, but the inside of the boat boat was tidy when we found it. He also broke into a neghbouring boat (causing almost no damage) and stole a saucepan and a portable stove (presumably to heat up the soup)

 

Although I have never met him as such, I have seen Mr Finch on two separate occasions, once at Braunston when we foiled his attempt to break into a boat on our moorings, and once near Rugby when he was making his escape from some Private moorings in a small arm (cannot remember the name off hand) On both occasions he disapeared very quickly when we saw him.

[the grinch]

So sorry

Thought everyone knew the lock.

 

I have boated for over 30 years and still had to look it up!

 

Now every one knows where this vulnerable boat is located.

 

martyn

 

quite safe on here as cut folk always look out for each other!

 

is it worth starting a thread on bad moorings / known problems for the less experienced amongst us

[Dawnie]

IF you see him, my cabin doors will be left open, the sponges etc will be under the sink, and there is a bottle of scotch under the saloon cushions.

 

Normal then

[chris w]

I have never met this guy nor do I wish him harm.....

 

Martyn

You're more restrained than a lot of us would be.......... One day he'll choose the wrong boat and will never be seen again.............

[Nickhlx]

You're more restrained than a lot of us would be.......... One day he'll choose the wrong boat and will never be seen again.............

 

 

echoed... mine might have an "unexplained earthing problem" at the time of the incident.... if self-defence wasn't completely justified for the severe injuries the assailant suffered .....

 

Nick

[carlt]

I wonder how many pages are actually read, before a Daily Mail gets ripped to shreds with rabid anger....?

[Tim Doran]

I cant help but imagine that he looks a little like Fagin with a stoop and a long coat and a twinkle in his eye. The reality is that he has social problems, but that does not mean that all breakins should be reported.

 

Tim

[carlt]

I cant help but imagine that he looks a little like Fagin with a stoop and a long coat and a twinkle in his eye. The reality is that he has social problems, but that does not mean that all breakins should be reported.

 

Tim

No he doesn't look like Fagin.

 

I found him asleep, on the A5 verge, between Daventry and Braunston, once, a bit scruffy and very drunk but, once I'd established he was alive and he'd established I wasn't the police, I gave him my tobacco and rolled him into the ditch, away from the traffic.

 

All break-ins should be reported, of course, and anyone convicted should receive punishment.

 

Personally I think the only way a persistent offender, such as Finch, could be persuaded to stop committing his crimes is to offer him some form of "poacher turned gamekeeper" role.

 

He was once a very useful member of society who seems to have been institutionalised, by his years in the army, then let back into the world with little assistance or support from his former employees.

[Roger t' Bodger]

Good reasoning and humanity there Carl

[Nightwatch]

There is a semi-fictional feature of "Finch" on the Braunston Marina website.

 

Click the "Feature" tab and have a shufty.

 

He looks like a well fed Fagin. I heard recently that he's not a well man. Oh dear. Bless

Martyn

 

Edit-following Carlt piece. I fully agree he has probably beenllet down. He does need help, I don't want to patronise him, but the usual "help" he may recieve wouldn't be for him. (Nursing home) etc.

 

I thing you're right when you say someting like Gamekeeper etc.

 

I just wish he hadn't done my boat. Selfish I know, but it makes me change my opinion of him. He tried and failed to do my boat about the same time last year.

Apparantly if he ever gets caught he knows all the boats he has done where when etc. A clever man that is being wasted.

Edited April 21, 2009 by Nightwatch1

[carlt]

I heard recently that he's not a well man. Oh dear. Bless

Considering the disproportionate number of ex-military personnel who are homeless, unemployed or suffering from mental illness, it's hardly surprising he's unwell, squatting unoccupied boats and stealing.

 

I just wish he hadn't done my boat. Selfish I know, but it makes me change my opinion of him. He tried and failed to do my boat about the same time last year.

Apparantly if he ever gets caught he knows all the boats he has done where when etc. A clever man that is being wasted.

On the other hand, if he'd been squatting my boat, when it was unoccupied, kids would not have been able to burn it down to the waterline.

 

When my friend rang me to tell me Usk was alight my first fear was that Finch was on board and had, accidentally, burnt to death.

 

It was a relief to know it was kids, who'd done it, and nobody was hurt.

Edited April 21, 2009 by carlt

[sueb]

I believe Mr Finch has received a lot of help over the years. It just isn't the type he wants. The only thing that would help is a three offences and you stay in prison rule. Some on this list castigate overstayers & non licence payers and others seem to think it is ok for someone to break into boats if he is old. He wasn't old when he started and he has caused untold misery to others.

Sue