I've been a victim of crime tonight.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Julie Turner — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 17:21:21 GMT

That's two reasons why I can't bear those papers. I'm astonished so many read them and believe the salacious drivel that is half their content. No wonder Brexit is occurring (The link there is they'll believe anything).

The poor woman.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Lucy Fleming — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 16:50:50 GMT

How nice of the Daily Mail to provide us with pictures of his grieving widow to accompany the story. I'm sure seeing a bunch of telephoto lenses really helped her to process everything.

Oh, and knowing the value of their house was vital to the context as well.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Arlo Guthrie — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 07:19:47 GMT

[quote user="Julie Turner"]I'm glad they have apprehended the thugs that took your car and there's nothing wrong with having a nice car especially if it's your passion.[/quote]

Well, from what I hear from the police, I am not hugely confident they'll serve any time for breaking into our house, although with a little luck they'll get done for something.

[quote user="Julie Turner"]We now have a shipping container in our back garden after the garden sheds were systematically robbed.[/quote]

How bloody annoying to have to make your garden look like a Maersk depot.

Did you consider movement-activated lighting mounted up high (of course depends on where you live; as police said to us, tends to be effective if you live in a built up area, but just serve to give robbers some light to work by if you live in isolation). CCTV also becoming very affordable, and I suspect quite a good deterrent.

[quote user="Julie Turner"]Take care Arlo.[/quote]

You too :)

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]

The immediate answer is that the prison service doesn't have enough money.

[/quote]

Hadn't thought of that. I'd only got as far as thinking they might save a bit on plasma TVs and food (obviously been reading too much DM recently!)

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]Anyway the bleeding-heart liberals object to the punishment bit.[/quote]

Hmm, I was thinking that punishment in the context of 'punishment followed by rehab' would make punishment more palatable to the BHLs.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 22:13:55 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]Why DON'T we have a dual punishment / rehabilitation sentencing structure, whereby judges dish out one element of the sentence which is punishment (time in solitary; a bare cell with no plasma screen, rubbish food etc), and the other is rehab (additional time inside, but in a more comfortable cell, better food, and other efforts to rehabilitate the prisoner).[/quote]

Something I've been thinking and occasionally suggesting for years.

The immediate answer is that the prison service doesn't have enough money.

Anyway the bleeding-heart liberals object to the punishment bit.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Julie Turner — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 17:35:25 GMT

...and spray it with mud :-)

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Julie Turner — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 17:24:17 GMT

Yes, the chap was a Royal Marine. In the heat of the moment we don't know how we are going to react. These violent housebreakers need the full force of our law directed at their criminal bodies, even if 'no one gets hurt', they have still caused a lot of distress to families, friends and so on. I'm glad they have apprehended the thugs that took your car and there's nothing wrong with having a nice car especially if it's your passion. We now have a shipping container in our back garden after the garden sheds were systematically robbed. I'd quite like a mantrap or two as I'm loathe to barricade us in with fences. Take care Arlo. I just read some of Wynne's comments. Priceless! RIP Wynne

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Arlo Guthrie — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 17:23:48 GMT

[quote user="Thomas Johnson"]It's a terrible story, and I did think of you Arlo Guthrie when I heard it, must have brought everything you went through back to the surface.[/quote]

Thanks, but thankfully it didn't bring everything back. Not sure if that's just the middle-aged memory loss, or the fact that dramas are very much a part of my life anyway, so I tend to look forward to the next one, rather than back to the last one!

I guess whoever did it was probably off their head on some substance or other. As Wynne would have said, hope they throw away the key.

Actually, I was listening to a radio discussion the other day about whether prison should be about punishment or rehabilitation (a perennial question).

I've always leaned towards punishment, but this time I asked my 10 year old daughter what she thought. 'Both' came the reply.

Made me think ... we tend to think prison should be about one thing or the other. Why DON'T we have a dual punishment / rehabilitation sentencing structure, whereby judges dish out one element of the sentence which is punishment (time in solitary; a bare cell with no plasma screen, rubbish food etc), and the other is rehab (additional time inside, but in a more comfortable cell, better food, and other efforts to rehabilitate the prisoner).

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Martin Atkinson — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 17:23:23 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]And if I ever replace my own car, I'll be 'downbadging' whatever I buy, so it looks like the slowest model in the range. [/quote]Buy a Skoda - Audi in sheep's clothing for 2/3 the price and just as well made, thieves don't realise as they're badge driven.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Thomas Johnson — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 15:04:47 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]

God my heart really goes out to the family of this man: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4439118/Man-arrested-murder-Royal-Navy-officer-35.html

Can't help feeling that I had a very, very close shave. And if I ever replace my own car, I'll be 'downbadging' whatever I buy, so it looks like the slowest model in the range.

[/quote]

It's a terrible story, and I did think of you Arlo Guthrie when I heard it, must have brought everything you went through back to the surface.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Niall Taylor — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 12:47:37 GMT

What a dreadful story, I feel so sorry for his family. I can see why in the heat of the moment you'd want to have a go but really, at the end of the day a car is replaceable, people ain't. You did absolutely the right thing.

Niall

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Arlo Guthrie — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 11:24:41 GMT

God my heart really goes out to the family of this man: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4439118/Man-arrested-murder-Royal-Navy-officer-35.html

Can't help feeling that I had a very, very close shave. And if I ever replace my own car, I'll be 'downbadging' whatever I buy, so it looks like the slowest model in the range.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Hannah Wynne Richards — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 15:37:33 GMT

If you had blasted their fingers off with a shotgun, no doubt they would have been the 1st to demand a prosecution. The only deterrant that would work with that sort would involve a short rope and a long drop.

Wynne

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Arlo Guthrie — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 10:06:02 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]More importantly are they torturing the scumbags with the keys to reveal where the car is[/quote]

Well, one can only hope

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]how did they perchance enter this home to find them?[/quote]

Policeman couldn't really tell me much about ongoing investigation, but reading between the lines, a) the person or people are really properly nasty pieces of work, and b) the police entered the house to arrest them for something else and have already put them in the 'care' of HMP.

By all accounts we were very lucky not to come face to face with them.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Hannah Wynne Richards — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 08:12:06 GMT

If only they could................ but our criminal "justice" (ha ha ) system is so biased towards the evil ones, it's no longer fit for the purpose

Wynne

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Martin Atkinson — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 19:05:06 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]Because when the police found the keys, they took them to an Audi garage and asked them to check on their system who they belonged to![/quote]Clever that eh? I presume that the the polis had deduced they would have re-programmed the car management system to a new key otherwise it would be logical the car isn't far away - like round the corner or in the garage!!

More importantly are they torturing the scumbags with the keys to reveal where the car is and how did they perchance enter this home to find them?

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Arlo Guthrie — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 17:54:39 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]May be a daft question but how do they know they're your keys?[/quote]

Because when the police found the keys, they took them to an Audi garage and asked them to check on their system who they belonged to!

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]Knowing the thoroughness of an average police search the car is probably in the garage but they didn't think to look there![/quote]

Um, from what I can gather, these were not just your average yoofs out joyriding, who you might suppose would park the car round the corner or in the garage.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Martin Atkinson — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 14:02:10 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]

Whaddyaknow, apparently police have just found my car keys at a house in the Midlands!

[/quote]May be a daft question but how do they know they're your keys?

Knowing the thoroughness of an average police search the car is probably in the garage but they didn't think to look there!

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Dagmar Steele — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 13:19:25 GMT

Now for the car!!!!

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Arlo Guthrie — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 13:00:51 GMT

Whaddyaknow, apparently police have just found my car keys at a house in the Midlands!

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Bob Russell — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 18:00:06 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]

[quote user="julie turner"]Wishing you and yours peace. I hope the bastards caught and prosecuted. [/quote]

[quote user="Stephan Termote"]I don't usually log in and am not very active on social media but on this occasion I did not hesitate.[/quote]

Thank you both so much. Particularly Stephan that it should be the subject of your maiden post. I'm genuinely touched.

Actually, I've been completely blown away by the number and the kindness of the messages I've had after I mentioned this in the newsletter. I genuinely wasn't expecting any! In fact, I wouldn't have mentioned it at all, except then I thought you lot probably ARE at greater risk of this kind of thing, by virtue of the controlled drugs cabinet amongst other things. So if it prompts anyone to have a think about better lighting, alarms, cctv (even falsies), and that stops one of these buggers, some good will have come of it.

[quote user="cihwalters"]Arlo, have you ever considered a dog, great company for the family and a very useful deterrent for unwelcome people[/quote]

Well yes. We have one. But I think I chose the wrong model! Too much 'yap', not enough 'snarl'

Thank you again, everyone. My faith in human nature being essentially good is undented!

[/quote]

Sometimes you need a small yappy model to wake up the large, deep voiced, man-eater!

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Hannah Wynne Richards — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 17:50:02 GMT

Maybe he's like Bill Clinton when it comes to defining what is meant by sex?

Arlo I'm glad your sense of humour hasn't deserted you.

Wynne

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Niall Taylor — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 17:36:38 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]I replied, [well what would you say?, "I don't think so...."[/quote]

You weren't sure whether you'd had intercourse in your car?

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Anthony Todd — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 17:14:36 GMT

Come on Arlo, if it's still in the country someone here will find it. Must be some unique identifying little detail.

Anecdote alert:

I was selling my high mileage and used Ford Zephyr in NZ in about 1961 when new cars were well over list as were older ones.

Dealer asked me [true, I promise] among a load of the usual questions, "Have you ever had intercourse in the car?"

I replied, [well what would you say?, "I don't think so...."

He bought it!

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Arlo Guthrie — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 16:37:10 GMT

[quote user="Danny Chambers"]Did the police catch them? Have you got your car back?[/quote]

Nope!

[quote user="Danny Chambers"]I can't believe they would be so brazen as to carry on when they knew you had seen them![/quote] Well, I didn't actually see their faces; just a gloved pair of hands and a crowbar. I didn't hang around long enough to get a selfie with them.

RE: I've been a victim of crime tonight.

Niall Taylor — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 14:13:47 GMT

You need the new Magnavolt car anti-theft device (from the makers of Robocop):

www.youtube.com/watch

Niall