Police Believe Narrowboat Thief Story And Drop The case

[Alan de Enfield]

From Narrowboatworld.

 

London Marathon cheat steals narrowboat

Published: Wednesday, 09 May 2018

THE man who stole a London Marathon runner's number after he collapsed towards the end of the race went on to steal his narrowboat.

A week after homeless man Stanley Skupien (pictured) was arrested after stealing a London Marathon runner's medal and his number off a collapsed competitor near the finish line, he went on to steal the man's narrowboat, Alan Tilbury reports.

Liveaboard

The runner, Lawrence O'Connor, went to his moorings on the Grand Union Canal to discover that his liveaboard narrowboat had gone, so reported it stolen.

He was later told that someone was painting a blue narrowboat black near Harlesden, then found Skupien living in his narrowboat even wearing the owner's own clothes three miles up the waterway moored off-side it being painted in an attempt to disguise it, with the London Marathon 'finisher' top draped over the tiller.

Police believed thief

The stunned boat owner immediately called the police on seeing the man on his boat, but Skupien denied stealing the boat, telling officers he had been asked to paint it for a mystery man who had vanished!

He was unable to explain why he was wearing the owner's clothes or why the boat had been taken from its mooring, and the police believed him! Even when the owner later protested he was informed the case was closed.

Complained

But the boat owner made an official complaint to the Metropolitan Police, and explained on Facebook:

"Called 999. Police arrived but not madly interested in investigating the guy's story that 'some man asked' him to paint, nor in the fact that he dropped a large axe overboard as they approached, nor that the boat had been covered with tarpaulins and distinguishing features attempted be covered-up/removed.

"Engine kaput for the time being, with its abductors having put petrol in the diesel and dismantled the air intake.

 "The officers on the scene said that they believed his story that someone found him sleeping rough and offered him money to paint the boat and they weren't able to prove his story is not true.

"Leaves many questions unanswered and is very strange. I insisted they take action to find whoever was behind the theft.

"I received an email this morning saying the case is closed and no further action will be taken."

So it seems if your boat is stolen, there is not much point in reporting it if the police are going to believe the thief.  Lawrence has his boat back and is busy sorting out the mess that the man left it in.

[Athy]

If this is true, it's a disgrace.

If it's not true, it's a disgrace.

[Hudds Lad]

either "marathon man" is the unluckiest bloke on the waterways, or there's more to this story than we're being told as it just beggars belief that he'd steal that particular boat

[haggis]

When I read it I wondered about that then thought that perhaps having stolen the runners number he would have some way of identifying him and stole his boat knowing he would be involved in marathon stuff for a while 

I don't know though if it is possible to get info via a runner's number. Perhaps by getting access to where the runners clothes are stored? 

Haggis 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2018 by haggis

[Cheese]

Someone has got the story mixed up.  The marathon race number he picked up and used belonged to a 'Jake Halliday'.

[Hudds Lad]

so its just the same offender up to no good again? that makes more sense

[Stilllearning]

I am, as usual, impressed by the quality of reporting on Narrowboatworld  

 

[Laurie Booth]

http://metro.co.uk/2018/04/27/london-marathon-spectator-stole-runners-number-ran-final-mile-claimed-medal-7503291/

[zenataomm]

Perhaps we'd have less aggravated crime about if we just lost the police.

[Naughty Cal]

1 hour ago, Stilllearning said:

I am, as usual, impressed by the quality of reporting on Narrowboatworld  

 

They will have stolen the story and pictures from somewhere else. So someone else must be getting confused as well.

[Dartagnan]

I’m not sure where I read it but apparently he is well known to the police and generally ‘lives’ at Heathrow airport and has mentall illness issues.

As usual we don’t know the full facts but on the face of it it doesn’t reflect well on the police.  The boat owner has made a complaint so I suppose it will all come out in the wash as they say.  (Probably not the paint though)

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Narrowboat World. The Daily Mail of the waterways press. Stories written to induce apoplexy in their target readers and keep them coming back. Fact checking, not so much of a priority. Which outlet am I talking about?

 

Jen

[Horace42]

There are so many coincidences here that it beggars belief that things happened by chance.

A sequence of unrelated independent random events would have to conspire to coincidence to explain the situation.

The 'true' story would be very interesting - and simple.

 

[mrsmelly]

Its a load of testicles. I would have said bollocks but I am too polite.

[mark99]

Too weird to be true in the manner presented.

[Tim Lewis]

4 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Narrowboat World. The Daily Mail of the waterways press. Stories written to induce apoplexy in their target readers and keep them coming back. Fact checking, not so much of a priority. Which outlet am I talking about?

 

Jen

The story was in the Daily Mail

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5698963/Homeless-man-cheated-finish-London-Marathon-stole-house-boat.html

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

1 minute ago, Tim Lewis said:

The story was in the Daily Mail

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5698963/Homeless-man-cheated-finish-London-Marathon-stole-house-boat.html

 

Uncanny. It did sound very Daily Heil in the Narrowmind World piece.

Jen

[Tim Lewis]

2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Uncanny. It did sound very Daily Heil in the Narrowmind World piece.

Jen

Also on the Sun web site:

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6225964/london-marathon-cheat-theft-allegation/

 

[Phil.]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/crime/london-marathon-cheat-who-crossed-finish-line-with-another-runners-number-to-see-a-dream-come-true-jailed/ar-AAyZyW9?li=BBoPWjQ

 

well it seems this particular waste of space has finally got what he deserved. Top marks should also go to his defence brief for the outstanding and frankly unbelievable use bullsh1t mitigating for her client.

[Richard10002]

On 09/05/2018 at 10:51, Hudds Lad said:

either "marathon man" is the unluckiest bloke on the waterways, or there's more to this story than we're being told as it just beggars belief that he'd steal that particular boat

Looks like he stole a different runners number, before allegedly nicking the boat. 16 weeks for fraud and theft of the number.... nothing at all for the narrowboat????

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

nothing at all for the narrowboat????

Probably because the Police believed his story that he was painting the boat for someone he met, who had apparently since disappeared.

The Police said they were dropping the case and no further action wouldd be taken - so its not surprising that it was not raised in court.

[Chewbacka]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Probably because the Police believed his story that he was painting the boat for someone he met, who had apparently since disappeared.

The Police said they were dropping the case and no further action wouldd be taken - so its not surprising that it was not raised in court.

Believed or couldn’t be bothered??  Think we all know the answer to that.........

[Horace42]

Slightly off at an angle - would not the stolen boat, with a kaput engine and not able to go anywhere, have been picked up later for exceeding the 14 days mooring limit and the owner becoming aware when asked to pay the excess charge. ..... leading to a supplementary question of how would the owner be found if the boat was repainted and all ID removed....??

 

[Steve Manc]

If the police refused to take action I would have raised it with my MP. At least the police would have to explain in writing why they decided not to take action.