Mr Finch

[Weyland Yutani]

'well officer, I was disturbed/woken up by the intruder, who then atacked me with what I thought was a knive. I lashed out at him with this mooringpin/windlass/lenght of wood that was closest to me. When he fell down/staggered back, he hit his head on the speedwheel/geareboxlever, door, hatch..... Quite badly to, it seems....'

 

 

best not to be found breaking into my property.

 

 

And there is no such thing as an 'honourable thief'.....

 

Right there with you, it wasn't cheap repairing the damage he did.

[Heffalump]

'well officer, I was disturbed/woken up by the intruder, who then atacked me with what I thought was a knive. I lashed out at him with this mooringpin/windlass/lenght of wood that was closest to me. When he fell down/staggered back, he hit his head on the speedwheel/geareboxlever, door, hatch..... Quite badly to, it seems....'

 

 

best not to be found breaking into my property.

 

 

And there is no such thing as an 'honourable thief'.....

 

Mr Sea-Land,

 

Have you ever acted upon someone breaking into your property?

[luctor et emergo]

Mr Sea-Land,

 

Have you ever acted upon someone breaking into your property?

 

 

yes

[Heffalump]

yes

 

nasty.

 

I'm not pontificating, I was just curious.

[luctor et emergo]

nasty.

 

I'm not pontificating, I was just curious.

 

curiousity killed the cat

 

 

;-)

[Heffalump]

curiousity killed the cat

 

 

;-)

 

In some parts of the city, [Ankh-Morpork] curiosity didn't just kill the cat, it threw it in the river with lead weights tied to its feet.

[petro]

Just visited my boat at Ventnor farm and found that I have been 'Finched'. Seems it happened on the 20th Jan.

Not really fussed about the food and drink he nicked but am very annoyed about my damaged front doors.

The jemmy marks and split timber will take some careful repairing.

Of three boats he burgled two were accessed by forcing the side hatches. So be warned !

Hopefully the 3 year old cans of Pedigree he also pinched has caused him some grief.

 

Reading other posts, and asking around, he has caused thousands of pounds of damage over the years and the police have been involved on numerous occasions. Surely if this is the same bloke then he must be traceable even if living rough somewhere.

The police are thoroughly sympathetic but I doubt will do very much more as he does not pinch anything of great value. But, it is nevertheless quite upsetting that more is not done to bring his activities to an end.

 

Also how does he get around ? Bike, car, boat ? to lug a bag of groceries and booze taken from three boats from Ventnor Farm to the nearest convenient road is a long trek and if he is as old as suggested he is certainly organised.

 

Oh well thats got that lot off my chest but I am sure Mr Finch's name will pop up again soon.

 

Peter

[David Schweizer]

Just visited my boat at Ventnor farm and found that I have been 'Finched'. Seems it happened on the 20th Jan.

Not really fussed about the food and drink he nicked but am very annoyed about my damaged front doors.

The jemmy marks and split timber will take some careful repairing.

Of three boats he burgled two were accessed by forcing the side hatches. So be warned !

Hopefully the 3 year old cans of Pedigree he also pinched has caused him some grief.

 

Reading other posts, and asking around, he has caused thousands of pounds of damage over the years and the police have been involved on numerous occasions. Surely if this is the same bloke then he must be traceable even if living rough somewhere.

The police are thoroughly sympathetic but I doubt will do very much more as he does not pinch anything of great value. But, it is nevertheless quite upsetting that more is not done to bring his activities to an end.

 

Also how does he get around ? Bike, car, boat ? to lug a bag of groceries and booze taken from three boats from Ventnor Farm to the nearest convenient road is a long trek and if he is as old as suggested he is certainly organised.

 

Oh well thats got that lot off my chest but I am sure Mr Finch's name will pop up again soon.

 

Peter

 

He walks, most of the time along the towpath.

 

Most winters he presents himself at either Oxford or Daventry Police Station, offers about about 80 boat break ins, and gets put down for three months. He than absconds from Bail Hostel in the spring to spend another 9 months "on the road"

 

I have not heard of him being jailed this year, but usually any boat breakins attributed to him between December and February have not been committed by him.

Edited February 11, 2011 by David Schweizer

[RLWP]

He walks, most of the time along the towpath.

 

Most winters he presents himself at either Oxford or Daventry Police Station, offers about about 80 boat break ins, and gets put down for three months. He than absconds from Bail Hostel in the spring to spend another 9 months "on the road"

 

I have not heard of him being jailed this year, but usually any boat breakins attributed to him between December and February are not usually by him.

 

Our recent break-in was by two people. There have been several at Hatton this December and January, possibly including a broken window.

 

Two people doesn't sound like how Finch usually works, so I think we were finched rather then Finched

 

Richard

[Keeping Up]

I reckon he did us a favour, by acting as security consultant and showing us that our side hatch was vulnerable to a break in (so that we could rectify that weakness).

 

A real security consultant would have charged us lot more than just two cheap bolts, some tins of beans and half a bottle of scotch.

[ditchcrawler]

Came up on Facebook today

 

I am the Police Community Support Officer for Dunchurch and Knightlow in Warwickshire and am investigating a couple of burglary's/ criminal damage incidents in our area.

The incidents we have just had involved the offender breaking into the boat using a crow bar / jemmied and forcing the boat doors to gain entry.

Once inside the boat he / she has taken grocery items and small amounts of money, often ignoring electrical items and things of value.

Looking back at our records we have this sort of offence happen in our canal area before and a male was arrested, he is well known to other areas and is renown for travelling up and down the Grand Union... mostly between Rugby and London.

This male, as far as we know sleeps rough, often in the boats he breaks into and only ever takes food and money he can find once inside the boat.

If you have any knowledge of this sort of crime happening at your Marina or know the latest whereabouts of this male, please could you contact myself as soon as possible?Any other information or intelligence you wish to pass on to me would be greatly appreciated,

Kind Regards

Judy

JUDY HAYDON

Community Support Officer 6092

...(Rugby Rural Team)

judy.haydon@warwickshire.pnn.police.uk

01788 853743

Voicemail: 01788 541111 dial ext 16092

http://www.warwickshire.police.uk/

[Jim Riley]

Keep safe ...

 

24 December 2010 Last updated at 09:26

 

Warning follows boat burglaries in Surrey BBC

 

Boat owners and walkers have been urged to be vigilant following a spate of break-ins at vessels moored in a canal in Surrey. Surrey Police said thieves had targeted craft on the waterway off Bridge Road, Chertsey at least four times. Electrical items including a television and MP3 player were stolen from a riverboat during the latest incident on Monday. olice believe more burglaries may have gone unreported. The force has appealed for anyone with information to contact officers. Sgt Andy Gibbon said: "There are regular walkers and boat owners who may have seen something that could help officers track the offenders and bring them to justice. "It would appear there have been a number of similar offences and I would urge anyone who has suffered a break in to contact police. "There is a close knit community around the river and I would advise that everyone look out for each other in order to put a stop to this type of distressing offence."

 

Ahh! The long arm of the law on the case at last.

[carlt]

Ahh! The long arm of the law on the case at last.

I can only assume that you were already wearing your coat, before posting that one...

 

Class!

[PiRSqwared]

Funky!

[Tonka]

Some time ago back in 1989/1990 at Stowe Hill on the GU canal, there used to be a man who became known as Mad Bob.

He used to live in the stables in the field opposite the Tyre Dealers on the A5 between Weedon and Stowe Hill.

Apparently his family owned the field but used to live in Spain. Bob had been in the army or SAS allegedly. He used

to break into boats that were left in the Stowe Hill area but only steal food and cash. He was quite brazen and would

Be seen in in the daylight on boats. He also broke in the shop at Stowe Hill Wharf and steal food and cash. I do not think he

Broke into the Narrowboat pub. Apparently at Weedon school the kids used to come out of the school and had to walk around the school to get to

the entrance to the dinner hall. Apparently Bob stood between the two entrances one day and collected Dinner Money.

He was well known to the police. The boats who knew used to moor on the offside. Is this Mad Bob and Mr Finch

one and the same ???

[WaterTraveller]

Someone had their boat broken into about a month ago at Cropredy, just took 2 bottles of Scrumpy...sounds a bit Finch-like. We need an up to date photo of him posting.

Edited March 14, 2011 by WaterTraveller

[cotswoldsman]

Amazing that this thread has bumped back up.I have just phoned my mate that I cruise with to let him know when I will be back. He then said "I did not mention this before as I did not want to spoil your trip,but your boat was broken into 2 days after you left looks like nothing was taken except maybe some clothes as all your clothes were on your bed" tv etc all still there this was on 8 January at Cropredy.

[saltysplash]

Someone had their boat broken into about a month ago at Cropredy, just took 2 bottles of Scrumpy...sounds a bit Finch-like. We need an up to date photo of him posting.

 

Why would you want an up to date photo of him?

 

What will you do if you see him? call the police?

 

As far as i know he's not been caught in the act, he's only gone down coz hes handed himself in and copped a plea for a number of thefts so he can spend some quality time inside during the winter.

 

yes he could be nicked for his MO, but id like to meet the CPS brief thats going to put him up before the bench without any real evidence.

 

Sadly he is one of those facts of life on the canal system. you wont cure him, all you can do is protect against him

[canaldrifter]

His track record seems to be that if anyone recognises him he legs it.

 

So, presumably an up-to-date image would be useful to make recognition easier, or is that too simplistic?

 

Tone

[carlt]

His track record seems to be that if anyone recognises him he legs it.

 

So, presumably an up-to-date image would be useful to make recognition easier, or is that too simplistic?

 

Tone

You'd need photographs of all the 'Finches', though.

 

I know, for a fact, that several of the 'Finch' break-ins, around the Northants/Warks area are down to at least 2 other people (probably 3).

 

I imagine there will be Finch attributed break-ins long after he has died.

[Kessy]

May be spending some time on the Grand union this summer and maybe a good idea if we keep updates on this thread regarding any sitings.

 

If you see a chewed up body floating along that stretch then it may be Mr Finch, or any other unfortunate soul who picked on the wrong boat.

 

Sorry to sound harsh but i would not stop the dog until i was sure that the intruder was not escaping.

 

 

 

 

[David Schweizer]

Why would you want an up to date photo of him?

 

What will you do if you see him? call the police?

 

As far as i know he's not been caught in the act, he's only gone down coz hes handed himself in and copped a plea for a number of thefts so he can spend some quality time inside during the winter.

 

yes he could be nicked for his MO, but id like to meet the CPS brief thats going to put him up before the bench without any real evidence.

 

Sadly he is one of those facts of life on the canal system. you wont cure him, all you can do is protect against him

Not caught but certainly observed, about 15 years ago Anthony (who now runs Rose Narrowboats) and I saw him trying to break into a boat at Braunston Boats, we foiled his efforts and made a dash to catch him, but he disapeared into the vegetaion, and despite the fact that it was Anthony's field, we could not find him.

[larkshall]

This phantom burglar?, how does he manage to break into all these boats?, how does he get in? We obviously are not securing our property very well, I'd have to include myself there on occassion

[jim and pat dalton]

Larkshall, I have for the firstime just the whole of read this thread and have to say, I agree with your comments.

 

But just how do you secure your boat properly?

 

Do forum members have any real pragmatic solutions and tips to achieve this? that are outside of the "keep a windlass beside your bed or have a big dog stuff"

 

 

Jim

 

PS: I was set upon (for hilarious drug fuelled fun) by a rottie belonging to a junkie who had taken up residence in our street in Stevenage once. It was whilst I was returning home from my office job late one night. A fat, unfit and balding office worker caught out in the open the open with nothing to defend myself with, I charged the dog down and it scarpered, whimpering into the distance, to my leg shaking relief!!! Dogs are no real threat, outside of a pack imho. Btw: Hertfordshire police didn't give a monkeys!

Edited March 15, 2011 by jim and pat dalton

[canaldrifter]

Larkshall, I have for the firstime just the whole of read this thread and have to say, I agree with your comments.

 

But just how do you secure your boat properly?

 

Do forum members have any real pragmatic solutions and tips to achieve this? that are outside of the "keep a windlass beside your bed or have a big dog stuff"

 

 

Jim

 

After years of securing my boat doors with a padlock, on the principle that I would rather a thief didn't do too much damage breaking in, I've now fitted a very secure Yale lock instead, making sure there is nowhere to insert a nail bar.

 

This was as a result of an attempted break-in whilst I was aboard! The drunken scroat had noticed that there was no padlock on the hasp, and thought he could just walk in. When he found he couldn't, he tried to break the internal door bolt by giving the sliding hatch a good shaking.

 

When the dog started barking he scarpered.

 

But, if a thief is determined, then they'd go in through a window. There is no way of making a narrowboat absolutely secure.

 

Tone