Residents' Association Forum

Assorted incidents:
Attempted break-in at a house in Church Walk last week.  Prints all over window.
Middle-aged man seen earlier apparently studying the house
Resident of Watts Road during the weekend saw a fellow aged about 35-40 walking off with his  lead bath (garden planter) from the front garden and gave chase - bath dropped, fellow escaped.

In the old days, people would have said: "tinkers about" - but not these days of course.   Be careful, stay watchful.

But don't phone in about a scruffy old fellow in a Barbour with a camera - that's me!

on friday early morning a hoodie was seen looking into the cars on the slipway by the swan, then pushed past someone to get onto the island, called pcso team who were pretty quick but he wasnt found and no signs of damage/theft but people are definitely out there so be vigilant people.

3 youths at about 1am this morning, were acting suspiciously on the High Street just outside our house. Then decided to start tipping up all the wheelie bins and hurling them down the road.
Also looking into allot of peoples cars and testing the doors!! Needless to say,  I opened the bedroom window and made the point that I had seen what they were doing, and politely, yet firmly, told them to ' move on ' !!!!!!!!....... Got a load of explitives back, but heah, I've broad shoulders! Hopefully me seeing what they were doing stopped them from taking things any further.

well done, how annoying, be a shame if td ever needs cctv

:(

I guess I better get the OH's door locks fixed as currently the barrel does not work ... 

not that there is anything worth stealing in the car but ...

There has been a spate of car crime over the last month with cars in various car parks targeted including St.Nick's, the library and Colets. CCTV showed two hoodies escaping on bicycles after breaking a window and thieving from a car in Colets during school pickup time.

I believe the Post Office Was robbed this afternoon. Don't have anymore details. Hope all are OK,

What is going on in TD then?  I know it's nearly Hallowe'en, but there does seem to be a bit of a crime wave going on.  At this rate, perhaps we all need to put in a bulk order for stab vests :P

Well, come the darker nights and wetter weather we always seem to have a seasonal migration of villains off the greenery and into the High St / Station Rd / Weston Green Rd / Speer Rd.  I mentioned it at the last police panel, in suggesting that the priority for this quarter should shift from the likes of Albany Reach/Giggs Hill/garden of remembrance back  to the High St and related roads.

I've put up a headline and a few details on the Post Office incident.  There have been small robberies at the Post Office from time to time in the past; also bin-throwing and vandalism near the Fountain; and when we get an apparent spike of petty crime like this one I also wonder whether some youth(s)  in 'care' for a few months is/are back in town.

Taking resources away from Giggs Hill wouldn't seem like a good idea to me, especially given that two of the recent incidents have happened in that locality (bird bath attempted theft, and my car being vandalised)

All quiet in our road recently. Our "youth" is now living in another town. Perhaps another youth, from elsewhere in the village, has taken over the patch.

Polish national Bartosz Badzioch, 27, is wanted in connection with a Thames Ditton burglary on October 31... (http://www.elmbridgeguardian.co.uk/news/9375578.Police_appeal_for_man_wanted_in_connection_with_burglaries/)  Elmbridge Guardian report, police photo of Badzioch

-------------

At the Long Ditton residents' AGM a couple of weeks ago, police had evidence attributing at least part of the spike in burglaries around the Dittons and Hinchley Wood to one particular individual from the Metropolitan area whose current location was unknown.  He was/is being sought actively.  I've no further info on that one.  

The crime figures around here have increased sharply over the year.  Figures for the half-year March to Oct in the current Neighbourhood Watch circular show that for the area (Moleseys, Dittons, Hinchley Wood and Weston Green):
Type                           No reported                      previous 6 months             % increase/decrease over previous
Burglary Dwelling          102                                     58                                              +76
Other burglary              102                                     51                                             +100%
theft of vehicle                27                                     15                                              +80%
theft from vehicle            95                                     68                                              +40%
crim damage vehicle      109                                     33                                              +230%
robbery person                 6                                        2                                              +200%

Another theft of York stone flags this morning, the brazen lifting of a dozen or more form 1 Lime Grove (Station Road opposite Clinique).  .  White van parked on the double yellows there.

A few weeks ago 26 sq metres (@ £85 per sq me replacement cost...) were nicked in broad daylight from Little Lodge on Watts Road while the occupants were on holiday.  Several months back York stone was nicked from Weston Grange's forecourt.  The owner gave chase and the van seems to have gone to ground at the nearby travellers' site but the police said they could do nothing.

There's been a lot of petty theft of that kind of material - also garden ornaments - around here over the past eighteen months,  Residents need to be vigilant to what appear to be any small works around and about, and may care to double check that they are legitimate/photograph the workers if in doubt - however tedious and intrusive that seems to be.

And so the crime wave continues.

I disturbed a guy in our loft at 2.30 this morning, scrabbling around by the cold water tank.  He had made his way in through the building works that we're currently having done, and I suspect that he was trying to turn off the water, so that he could remove all the freshly installed copper pipe that has been put in on the building site.  He probably didn't think that we were living there at the moment.  Had it been last week, we were on holiday, and he would have got away with it.

Police came quickly, and searched the area with dogs, but they didn't find him (or more likely them).

that must have been pretty frightening for you and your family, hard to articulate my feelings to what you've typed without using expletives. Utter vermin.

On the plus side I meant to PM you, the building work looks like it will lead to a stunning result.

sorry to hear it but glad you caught them in time (you did right)?

One of the biggest fears that any of us have is the intruder in the night, but I have to say that adrenaline took over, as I pulled down the loft ladder, shouted lots of expletives at him, and made chase through the loft space and out into the building site in my pyjamas.  We even had to get our 2 1/2 year old daughter out of bed and outside so the police dogs could check the house and loft space.    But you're right, none of us managed to go to sleep for the rest of the night - it was quite a harrowing experience, and my ears were finely tuned to any of the normal noises that one gets in an old house.  I suspect it'll be like that now until the work is complete.  Our CCTV installation is half in already, though sadly not commissioned.

The plus side is that they were disturbed before anything had been stolen, thank goodness.

And thanks for the positive vibes on the extension Craig.  I do hope it'll all be worth it in the end!

It will be. Don't let these people change your life.

Can your builders maybe make it a lot harder to access from now on until the work is done?

Maybe get some floodlights on PIR's installed inside temporarily too?

Extra floodlights are a good idea.  The builder is also going to board up all openings until the windows and doors arrive, which should help greatly.  We're not going to let the b*st*rds get us down.

Very sorry to hear about that. It must have been really scary for you and your family.
Glad you're all OK and that nothing was taken.
Are there maybe something like battery operated motion sensors you can buy to place at strategic points until you are fully secure?

The sheer brass face of these thieving tinkers beggars belief!  Well done for chasing him off.

One wonders how he came by the operational intelligence that there was material worth stealing from your loft area.  Had he been keeping obbos on the works?  Or was there some inside connection?  Or was it just a chance opportunity for a passing thief?

Thanks for the kind words.  I'm not sure any motion sensors would work, as our cat would set them off in no time (we had to upgrade our burglar alarm on the house as a result of this!).  Hopefully, it won't be long until the windows and doors are in, and then it will be secure.  All cavities will be locked or boarded up in the meantime.

I don't believe the 'tinker' was attempting to steal anything from the loft, as there really isn't anything in there worth stealing.  There is a large amount of new copper pipe on the ground and first floors, but he could see that the boiler was on and pressurised (as it's in the garage, which was doorless), and therefore guessed that all the pipes were all full of water, which wouldn't make removing them easy.  From my shadowy view through the side of the loft hatch, as the light from his led head torch flashed through, I think that he was trying to isolate the water supply to the pipes by cutting off the supply at the cold water tank. 

Golly, your cat moves?!  Here's our cat... 

[img width=450 height=600]http://residents-association.com/images/charlie.jpg[/img]

I think you are right that they thought the place was vacated (which is some comfort).

You can see these guys driving around all day long looking for scrap/ opportunities. The van was probably parked around the corner.

Hmm.... I was just having a look at the loft hatch, and wondering why the door didn't seem to be closed properly.  Then it dawned on me.  The guy in the house the other night wasn't up in the loft to turn off the water.  He was up in the loft trying to undo the loft hatch to get into the house.  I've tightened the locking mechanism up again (there's a nut on the inside of the loft hatch door), and it's made exactly the same sound as we'd heard early on Monday morning.

Stealing copper off building sites is bad enough, but it looks like I disturbed this guy just before he made his way into the house to clear it out.   This was no 'tinker'.

Would explain why he didn't jump into a waiting van when you chased him off!

Interesting.  Casual opportunity, or planned attempt, do you think?

I'd imagine mr Dodgy saw the building work and thought the owners werent in residence.

apparently there have been a series of daytime robberies from homes in Hersham recently.

Whatever it was, it's sent a shiver down our spines.  The thought of meeting someone face to face on the landing outside your bedroom in the middle of the night doesn't even bear thinking about.

For someone to know that there was a way into the house via the scaffolding, through the partially constructed roof and in via loft hatch, I'm sure they must have had a good look around previously - probably last week when we were away.   Either that, or it was some kind of inside job caused by loose talk from one of our contractors.  I guess we'll never know.

yup I'm not surprised. Must have been terrifying, almost more so after the event.

When I used to have contact with the CID lads many years ago, a lot of them commented that they had strategically placed &  hidden baseball bats etc around their homes. Not condoning or suggesting violence for a second but if you need to defend yourself and family then every little helps.