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* FOUND * Stolen Boat - from Mercia Marina


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Iain and I have been puzzling over the photos and trying to remember if a boat which scraped along side us at the Plough at Huddlesford yesterday about 4pm could be it. It was certainly blue and the steerer on a cruiser stern was not wholly visible to us which would be the case if part of him was inside the stern "skirt". Iain thinks that there was no red on the stern bit. The boat was heading towards Hopwas. I heard a boat going the other way say to the steerer of that boat that there was another boat right behind him but the steerer made no attempt to slow down (he wasn't speeding but was obviously not in total control) and he met the other boat bow to bow just in front of us. He then reversed and bumped our side then scraped along it by which time I was standing on our gunwale trying to hold his boat off. He went back a bit further and touched the bows of the boat moored behind us. He asked if "she" could cross our stern and I said of course and a female ran along side our boat, crossed our stern, pushed his boat out a bit then crossed back over our stern onto the towpath. This struck me as odd as I thought she was crossing to get onto the boat and we wondered afterwards who she was. was his crew walking? We don't know. He then extricated his boat and went on his way. Another thing which struck us and the chap on the boat behind was that at no time did he say anything (apart from "can she cross your boat?" ) but just kept looking straight ahead. No sorry, I screwed that up or a smile nor thanks for holding his boat out.

On discussing it later the guy in the boat behind also thought it was very odd behaviour. We are wracking our brains to remember if it could be the stolen boat but all we can be sure of is that it was blue and had pipe fenders which were attached below gunwale level.

I hope the missing boat is found

haggis

 

PS she was slim and I would say in her twenties. He had light brown hairand was probably about 5 feet 8 and also of slim build.

Edited by haggis
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Thank you all, any information would be great. We will also will be contacting more marinas. We really appreciate all you are doing.

If it has gone up the Ashby as has been suggested a call to Ashby Boat co. at Stoke Golding to see if they have seen it might be worth doing.

 

A long shot but then most suggestions at this stage will be I guess.

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Hope the boat is found soon. There's definitely something for the police to go on too. How did they get a key? Why had they specifically targeted that boat? This appears to be a planned operation and not at all opportunistic. My guess is that this boat was taken out of sight within 24hrs, a boatyard or somewhere with a shed/polytunnel/slipway/crane. Once it's established exactly when it was taken, I would be trying to trace its movements in the first few hours. Not easy to do of course.

Edited by Dave_P
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Thanks Dave P.

No the male had a ruck sack and looked like a boat mechanic, he new exactly where our boat was moored, what jetty and knew our boat had no name. He walked straight up to the boat being viewed by our neighbours, unlocked the Yale lock, pushed back the hatch, went inside, then unhooked the electric cable Nd untied the morning ropes and was was away in minutes. He was very familiar with the boat. He was so. On in I got that no one suspected him,

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Hi haggi

We are unfamiliar with your canal, can you give us more details and where they were heading? Thank for your posting this information, much appreciated.

Sorry, I should have said it was on the Coventry canal which runs between Fradley and Fazely and Huddleford is about a mile past Streethay Wharf. The boat was e heading towards Fazely, ie away from Fradley. Sorry, I was not more precise.

 

Haggis

 

Haggis

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Not to far from the Kings Bromley theft. Will keep a look out for you.

That is what I was thinking, Mercia is quite close to Kings Bromley, and the MO seems very similar. It sounds like this person had access to Mercia marina and keys to the boat.

 

Perhaps worth making certain that the police dealing with this case are aware of the other one.

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I know a lot is being made of the thief having the keys but were they really unique to the boat?

 

The lack of uniqueness in boat keys is a well known issue.

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Thanks Dave P.

No the male had a ruck sack and looked like a boat mechanic, he new exactly where our boat was moored, what jetty and knew our boat had no name. He walked straight up to the boat being viewed by our neighbours, unlocked the Yale lock, pushed back the hatch, went inside, then unhooked the electric cable Nd untied the morning ropes and was was away in minutes. He was very familiar with the boat. He was so. On in I got that no one suspected him,

have they any CCTV at the marina

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I know a lot is being made of the thief having the keys but were they really unique to the boat?

 

The lack of uniqueness in boat keys is a well known issue.

The key to the stern doors is actually a Yale key. Which will be much rarer than normal boat keys

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Great - thanks.

 

Let us not have another Que Sera Sera

 

Fortunately that seems unlikely, as the owners and those connected to them seem to be answering questions sensibly and reliably, and clearly want the boat found.

 

Things were very different with "Que Sera Sera", which I remain highly doubtful was ever stolen by anybody!

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I know a lot is being made of the thief having the keys but were they really unique to the boat?

The lack of uniqueness in boat keys is a well known issue.

While that's true for the ignition keys ( for want of a better term!) I'm not sure it's true for external door locks.....be they either Yale....padlock or whatever.....

 

However if someone is good at picking a lock it doesn't take much longer than using a key or perhaps look dissimilar either unless it's of a high security type.

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

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Yes we do but it does not cover the pontoons, so as not to be intrusive, and we do not know the day the boat was taken so hard to check on the gates.

Thats a shame as he must have passed them to get to the boat .I wonder if he came by car .

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I know a lot is being made of the thief having the keys but were they really unique to the boat?

The lack of uniqueness in boat keys is a well known issue.

Ignition keys for sure, but the padlock, assuming it is a padlock, on the rear hatch there can't be cominality there. The person must have known the boat from the builders or someone doing work on it perhaps.
  • Greenie 1
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