* FOUND * Stolen Boat - from Mercia Marina

[romarni123]

Can't recall it's in the posts a few days back

[MtB]

11th July after a brief google.

 

So Yank on the Cut, will you have a chance to review the CCTV for a day or two up to 11th July?

[UseleSS Enterprise]

So to get myself really unpopular.......

 

The boat taker knew exactly what boat he was looking for, even though it had no visible name, and that it was in that particular marina, but not where.

He was confident in his actions and seemed to have a key or keys.

Despite a huge and highly creditable search, the boat has not been spotted.

There is a legal dispute between the owner and the boat builder.

 

Please tell me someone has been to the Canal Centre to ask the builder a straight question.

 

If not, then surely it is Colonel Mustard in the dining room with the candlestick..........

 

Sympathy still goes to the owners of course for losing their pride and joy, whatever the circumstances.

[alan_fincher]

So what IS the 'approximate date' then?

 

We don't know.

 

Which is why I suggested the team turns its attention seriously to establishing when it was taken.

 

I have to admit I have not followed all 500 posts, but is there any update on the original "not sure if it was one or two weeks ago"?

 

If there isn't, it now means that that translates to maybe either one and a half weeks ago or two and a half weeks ago.

 

From my reading of this huge amounts of effort are being put into searching areas that are not that many days boating away from where the boat was taken from, but I am not seeing anything like the same consideration being given to the fact that it could now be just about anywhere on the connected Inland Waterways of the UK.

 

Is there any reason to suppose it may not have been taken a great deal further by now than where most of the searching seems to be concentrating?

 

I know there are previous examples where the boat has been found fairly close to home, but I suggest in most of those cases if this much effort had been put into looking they would already have been located, particularly for a boat as distinctive as this.

[Jerra]

Please tell me someone has been to the Canal Centre to ask the builder a straight question.

 

Surely this would need to be the boys in blue, too easy to lie to anybody else. The results of telling porkies to the police are a little more serious when the truth comes out.

[Guest]

 

I have to admit I have not followed all 500 posts, but is there any update on the original "not sure if it was one or two weeks ago"?

 

If there isn't, it now means that that translates to maybe either one and a half weeks ago or two and a half weeks ago.

 

From my reading of this huge amounts of effort are being put into searching areas that are not that many days boating away from where the boat was taken from, but I am not seeing anything like the same consideration being given to the fact that it could now be just about anywhere on the connected Inland Waterways of the UK.

 

Is there any reason to suppose it may not have been taken a great deal further by now than where most of the searching seems to be concentrating?

 

I know there are previous examples where the boat has been found fairly close to home, but I suggest in most of those cases if this much effort had been put into looking they would already have been located, particularly for a boat as distinctive as this.

 

None what so ever. However some people seem to be more interested in postulating silly conspiracy theories as to why it's not been found yet..

 

As I said at the outset Matty moved our boat from Pollington on the Aire & Calder in Yorkshire to Weedon in Northamptonshire in around a week when we put it up for sale.

 

The simple fact now is that boat could literally be anywhere on the system.

[David Mack]

 

So what IS the 'approximate date' then?

 

We don't know.

 

Which is why I suggested the team turns its attention seriously to establishing when it was taken.

But presumably the approximate time of day the bloke took the boat is known, which should reduce the task a bit.

[romarni123]

To be honest if it was me I would want to look at the Cctv footage.its always best to start with what you know and work from there.As I said the police could do a comparison with the bloke on Chilton who they do know.And either rule him out or connect him to this boat

[Chris and Graham]

Hi all

The boat was spotted moored at bridge 32 on the Trent and Mersea, next to the Fayre and Square pub. which is about an hour and a half from Willington and Mercia Marina, by a CRT checking license plates. This was on the 11th of July, so it our guess that he stopped the same day as the theft. We do not know the time he took our boat I.e. Morning or afternoon, nor the time the CRT member logged our boat.

Now off to Mercia, maybe we shall see some of you, for those that are looking for our boat, a huge thank you wherever you are, and good luck!

[trane]

Just a thought--The lack of any recent sightings does suggest that the boat isn't on any popular cruising ring [unless it's appearance has been drastically altered]. So, assuming that the thief wants to use it as a base it must be somewhere that boaters avoid--if it was me I'd probably take it into Birmingham and moor up somewhere at the top of the curley wirley.Until the kids are back at school I can't see many boats heading for the more remote areas of the BCN.

 

[MtB]

But presumably the approximate time of day the bloke took the boat is known, which should reduce the task a bit.

 

 

This helps a bit.

 

Assuming the CRT sighting on 11th july is of the correct boat (do we know this for a fact given the boat is not named?) then the peeps who saw this bloke ought to be at least able to say if it was morning or afternoon, or evening.

 

That will pin it down to say three or four hours a day of CCTV for say, the week ahead of 11th July..

[Yank on the Cut]

Has the marina owner managed to get a pic of the bloke off cctv.that way the police could match it up with the name of the guy off other stolen boat.Or at least find out who he is

No because we do not know the day it was stolen. It is easier to fiind a boat than a person. Despite the prescriptions left behind in the previous boat, the police have not found the person.

[johnnie1uk]

So am I right in thinking that the boat was taken 15 days before it was reported?

[Yank on the Cut]

11th July after a brief google.

 

So Yank on the Cut, will you have a chance to review the CCTV for a day or two up to 11th July?

I have been looking this morning and will continue. But the key is the boat not the person.

[MtB]

I have been looking this morning and will continue. But the key is the boat not the person.

 

 

I can see the enormity of the task even though not everyone can appreciate it.

 

Would you be willing to send out copies of files of the recordings to members here to spend the hours necessary reviewing them perhaps? Then perhaps we can organise ourselves to share out the work.

Edited July 30, 2016 by Mike the Boilerman

[romarni123]

We are all assuming it is the same person who took both boats.I am sure the police know who the Chilton thief is.It after all will be on their database.its not been easy finding this boat so perhaps knowing who the person is might give another angle

[the barnacle]

did i read the chap asked someone where the boat was moored? can this person not remember what day it was maybe by thinking what they were doing when the chap asked? i know i only remember days past by assosiation of events.

 

i would go to se the builer to clear all the gosip up and eliminate this line if they never took it back.

[Yank on the Cut]

Can all owners of MCC boats that look similar please come forward and let us know where the boat is (pm if you wish) so it can be eliminated?

[AMModels]

Just a thought--The lack of any recent sightings does suggest that the boat isn't on any popular cruising ring [unless it's appearance has been drastically altered]. So, assuming that the thief wants to use it as a base it must be somewhere that boaters avoid--if it was me I'd probably take it into Birmingham and moor up somewhere at the top of the curley wirley.Until the kids are back at school I can't see many boats heading for the more remote areas of the BCN.

 

I have shared it on groups where the BCN is a popular walking route, members are keeping an eye open for the boat.

[MtB]

did i read the chap asked someone where the boat was moored? can this person not remember what day it was maybe by thinking what they were doing when the chap asked? i know i only remember days past by assosiation of events.

 

i would go to se the builer to clear all the gosip up and eliminate this line if they never took it back.

 

 

This raises an interesting point. How did he ask where the boat was moored, given the boat has no name?

 

How did he describe it? Did he quote the CRT number? Name the builder? State the colour and age? Or what?

[Yank on the Cut]

 

 

I can see the enormity of the task even though not everyone can appreciate it.

 

Would you be willing to send out copies of files of the recordings to members here to spend the hours necessary reviewing them perhaps? Then perhaps we can organise ourselves to share out the work.

Good idea but CCTV rules prevent. I am not being awkward or evasive but if the police cannot find the guy who stole Chilton despite all the leads, then I hold out little hope of progress from a cctv pic. In the history of CWDF finding boats, I have never heard of one being found though a pic of the person.

[MtB]

They probably can't find him because he has switched to living on this boat instead of Chilton, lol!

[Arthur Brown]

They probably can't find the boat because it doesn't have a street address and post code. Post codes are now an essential navigational feature.

[Athy]

They probably can't find the boat because it doesn't have a street address and post code. Post codes are now an essential navigational feature.

Wherever it is moored is bound to have a postal code.

[RLWP]

Wherever it is moored is bound to have a postal code.

 

I haven't managed to get a post code for a canal towpath yet. And, yes, I have tried on a couple of occasions when we called the police

 

Richard