Burglary at Paignton Model Shop

[Firemagi]

Hi All,

Random one for a first post (I've been a lurker for a year or so, will say 'hello' properly soon).

Wanted to raise your awareness of a break in at the Paignton Model Shop on Monday (9th Oct).  Lot of stock taken, obviously in the run up to Xmas, Flea Bay might see some of this stuff.

http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2017-10-09/thief-breaks-into-devon-shop-through-ceiling-to-steal-valuable-model-trains/

Not the best of news for a first post 

Mods - If you feel this needs to be moved etc, please feel free.

Stay safe all
Steve

[daffy]

Very sad news.
At least he was considerate enough to give the Police a good and detailed image of himself.

Hopefully this  will be apprehended.

[broadsword]

Gawd what an ugly mug, he should be easy to find !

[Newportnobby]

Hope the scrote gets caught and tied to the railway tracks

[chris86200]

does anybody know the owners of the shop ?

[emjaybee]

Hope the scrote gets caught and tied to the railway tracks

Yeah, let's see how he likes a Hornby Class 47 in the side of the head.

On a more serious note, it could be useful if they issued a stock list of what was stolen so people could keep their eyes open.

[chris86200]

emjaybee
dont know what moderators and anyone else thinks, they are valuable items, maybe we check eb.. internet sell buy site, markets, any chance of a detaileed description, locos, etc and crime reference number / phone number / person people can contact so we can all help our friends in devon gain their valuable stock !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Evans]

Make me so  Why do people think its ok to take someone else's stuff, they work hard to make a business then a  goes and does this.
Hope they get caught and that the owners are ok.

[guest311]

lets be honest, not much chance of plod catching the  unless there is a TV crew with them

not much in the way of plod on the streets these days, all seem to be in 'specialist units', ie overalls / balaclava / H&K.
no real policing these days.
" your call is important, press 1 for murder, 2 for rape, 3 for burglary , 4 to speak, some time, to a call handler who will not give a toss."
only time you see any action is when they want to increase the council tax.

oh for the days when you had a local bobby who walked the beat, new his toe-rags, and did his job.

mind you, that was when people worked their way up the ladder, no short cuts, and the guy at the top had done the job rather than being some wanna-be politician without a clue, and a wish to increase his/her budget.

rant over

[stevewalker]

lets be honest, not much chance of plod catching the  unless there is a TV crew with them

From recent (2 years) personal experience, we had to contact the police twice in a month.

1) The first time because out 12 year-old son was accosted by a man trying to persuade him to come into a house because he had "something to show him." Three times he shouted over for him to come in, but fortunately he is a sensible lad and went the other way.

We contacted the police, they interviewed our son and then went round to the house. We were told that they'd get back to us, but we heard nothing.

We kept phoning the police station, but were told that the officer wasn't on duty or was tied up and would get back to us. We still heard nothing.

Eventually we were told that it had been passed to someone in their "Intelligence team." Again calls to this person went unreturned.

We repeatedly pointed out that this house was right by the bus stop and our son was having to get off elsewhere and walk to avoid it - plus many other children were still getting off there or visiting the sweet shop there. Still nothing.

After around 6 months, someone finally did say that there were "concerns."

Two years on and we have still not been informed how serious the concerns were. We have given up trying to get a response. We have however heard from other residents that he has moved away.

2) Someone kicked both the door mirrors off my wife's car.

We weren't interested in the police investigating or in claiming on her insurance - I just bought replacements on Ebay and fitted them myself. We did however report it to the police, just in case there was a spate of it in the area and the reports might give a pattern.

The police sent an officer to take a statement and look at the car.

Then they sent a second officer to take photos of the damage.

Then they sent a third officer to take swabs for DNA testing, because there was discolouration that suggested that the kicker had cut himself on the broken casting.

The following day, they sent another officer to ask around the neighbours to see if anyone had seen anything or had CCTV.

We got frequent calls back informing us where they were up to. Although the investigation was dropped when the swabs showed no trace and they had no further info.

We then got follow-up calls asking how well they had done, were we satisfied, etc.

To us, all this seemed a total waste of time and money and a total over-reaction to a bit of minor vandalism and a complete reversal of what should have been the priorities.

The only difference between the two events was that in the second, there seemed to be concern that as my wife's car had an Irish flag sticker in the back, it might be a racial crime.

I can only assume that in the second case, the possible racial element ticked some boxes. We'd have been much happier if all the effort and the communication was applied to the first case instead.

[RailGooner]

Policing today only works for big business. I don't blame the (should be on the) beat (but is stuck in an office ticking boxes) plod. I blame the ... Oh, sorry, I can't say anymore without breaking the 'no politics' rule.

[Bealman]

He certainly took his time! But you can clearly see what he looks like, so let's hope he is apprehended. As others have said, the stolen goods are specialist items which should be easy to spot, but a list of what they actually are would certainly be useful.

[NinOz]

Unless he is adding to his collection.
Took the time to wrap and tape.

[Bealman]

Fair point!

[silly moo]

I think it's strange that they had cctv but no burglar alarm system. I assume the cctv was to keep an eye on customers during opening hours.