Boat thief jailed

[JohnEW2912]

Last October our boat was broken into whilst left on the towpath in Stockton Heath, about 100 years from Thorn Marine. The thief had cut off the padlock from the stern and taken a few items, none of which were of any real value. He had also tried to start the engine and damaged the ignition barrel.

 

I called the police and a bobby was round inside half an hour. He took details and decided to get a CSI officer to see if he could get any fingerprints. Just as he was leaving I spotted our potato peeler on the stern deck all bent - we assumed he had used this to try to start the boat! It was a Lancashire type peeler and had string around the handle. The CSI officer was there again pretty quickly. He took fingerprints and took away the peeler in the hope of finding DNA. A few days later a detective visited me at home to take a full statement.

 

A couple of weeks later the police called to say they had a DNA match on the peeler to a local neer do well. Armed with the DNA evidence they brought him in and charged him. He admitted the offence and last week was sentenced to 8 months in jail. I assume he had a history of other offences, as I wouldn't think one break-in would get 8 months.

 

There's a lot of criticism of the police at times but I would have to say I had excellent service from the guys at Stockton Heath.

[scrabble]

Rare result but refreshing to hear all the same

[Sabcat]

Our boat was broken into the second year we lived aboard. Back then Norton Canes was very open, easy to get in and out of the moorings if the roofers next door were open. Someone drove in, broke in through the canal side, side hatch and took the TV back out through it (rather than opening the front doors from the inside) we know this because Mrs Sabcat arrived home from work to see them. She chased them, a couple of lads late teens/early 20s, but they escaped, fortunately. Mrs Sabcat is 5' 2" and 8 stone wringing wet, I'm not sure what she thought she was going to do if she'd managed to catch them. The police were called but they were never caught.

[Derek Porteous]

Good evening, John.

Stockton Heath is a regular stop over for us both starting and finishing our annual summer cruise. The area described is not exactly out in the sticks, there being regular passers by and overlooked from the houses opposite. It will make us very wary next time we are there. As a matter of interest, had you left your boat for a number of days, or was it an opportune break in whilst you nipped down to the shops for an hour?

 

Sorry you had this incident. Although you say nothing of value was taken, it still much have been very distressing.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Derek Porteous

[JohnEW2912]

We left it on the Monday and I came back to it the following Sunday. I don't know but am fairly sure it was broken into on the Saturday night.

 

It's the first time we have left it there, although we are very used to leaving it along the towpath all over the country for up to 2 weeks at a time. In 13 years the only other incident was having a gas cylinder nicked on the Whitchurch arm about 10 years ago. At the time we didn't lock the bow locker where the gas is stored.

 

The police told me that ours was the second incident at Stockton Heath in a couple of weeks. They caught the culprits in the previous incident (not the same guy that did ours) but could not prosecute because although they had evidence of the culprits being there on a bottle they had thrown it on to the towpath and therefore they could say they had not been on the boat. So they were very keen to get a conviction in our case and were delighted when the DNA match came up. I suspect the fact that someone has been caught and jailed may provide some deterrent to others in the near future at least.

 

I would have to say that our security has probably not been up to the job with just padlocks on the outer doors - a more sophisticated locking system would probably have put them off.

 

As you can see from my details we are "between boats" at the moment. The boat that was broken into has been sold and we are currently having a new boat built by Brayzel boats in Garstang. This is nothing to do with the break-in as we had decided before the event to upgrade.

[WJM]

So the Peelers used a Peeler to skewer the culprit!

[twbm]

.. and now he has to be a potato clock for morning headcount.

[wandering snail]

Good ol Blighty, we'd quite forgotten. This is virtually unheard of in Belgium and the Netherlands. We are thinking of returning to the cut and will have to get back in to mooring with chains and padlocks, being stoned from towpaths and bridges and being at risk of vandalism. Yippee. Oh, and C&RT.

Edited February 20, 2015 by wandering snail

[mattlad]

So the Peelers used a Peeler to skewer the culprit!

& now he's had his chips!

[Rambling]

I came back last year to a man hidden under my pram cover (I love my pram cover, but like to choose who enters the hallowed domain).

 

I somehow sensed he was on there, before I got on the boat and grabbed the phone and took pics). He got 3 yrs for burglary even though he didn't actually manage to get through the door, as I interrupted him. I thought it would be 'attempted burglary' but he was convicted by a jury of burglary) The boat was regarded as a dwelling and the same as a house porch. He had previous suspended sentences and was a prolific burglar, hence the 3 yr sentence. Police were excellent.

 

I now have flashing lights that come on automatically after dark on a timer and brilliant sensor solar security lights. We have noticed alot less interested people down here after dark snipping around now the lights come on. (They are only battery Xmas lights on a timer but work really well at making the boat look occupied).

[MtB]

I now have flashing lights that come on automatically after dark on a timer and brilliant sensor solar security lights. We have noticed alot less interested people down here after dark snipping around now the lights come on. (They are only battery Xmas lights on a timer but work really well at making the boat look occupied).

 

Sorry to heart of your burglary. Do you CC or is this on a home mooring?

 

The xmas lights sound an excellent idea. Are they inside the boat or on the outside/roof? Just wondering as I'm thinking of doing something similar.

 

 

MtB

[Rambling]

Mine are Outside on the roof, battery operated. They work really well and run the length of the boat. But you could also have them inside a window too. The 2 solar security lights that go on if you approach the boat. They are from the solar centre and are about £40 but are brilliant, really bright and worked all winter. The Crimbo lights I like because of the timer. I have a home mooring and the boat looks occupied with the lights. My mooring is quite isolated so I need quite bright security lights and they can't annoy anyone. But the Crimbo lights look really sweet and pretty and come on at dusk.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Rambling

[Laurie Booth]

I now have flashing lights that come on automatically after dark on a timer and brilliant sensor solar security lights. We have noticed alot less interested people down here after dark snipping around now the lights come on. (They are only battery Xmas lights on a timer but work really well at making the boat look occupied).

Thanks for the info.

[dccruiser]

 

Sorry to heart of your burglary. Do you CC or is this on a home mooring?

 

The xmas lights sound an excellent idea. Are they inside the boat or on the outside/roof? Just wondering as I'm thinking of doing something similar.

 

 

MtB

I bought a twin headed solar light unit with a ir detector for under 20 quid from maplins, i have it set up midway along the roof one light pointing each way, the detector is 270 degrees so i have it adjusted towards the rear of the boat, when triggered it lights up the full length of my boat bankside, so far i have been lucky enough to not have any problems, but the lights have certainly startled a few late night dog walkers!

 

Rick

[NigelMoore]

Thanks for the info.

 

Indeed, excellent ideas. We recently had an opportunistic would-be burglar climb down from the overhead bridge to explore the possibilities. He opened the hatch of one of the boats, only realising once he stuck his head in that the inhabitant was watching TV at the other end of the boat. He quickly scarpered.

 

The cctv footage from four separate cameras is off to the police at their request.

 

Having light and possibly sound more obvious from the outside could have put him off even investigating as far as he did.