Thief caught in police ‘rat trap’
Friday 25th June 2010, 2:38PM BST.
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Detectives in Telford today warned criminals who break into cars around the borough they could be the next to fall into the “rat-trap”.
Ian Poulton became the first to be snared by the car, which is fitted with two cameras, when he threw a brick through the window and snatched a fake sat-nav system left on the dashboard.
He was arrested after police examined the CCTV evidence and appeared in court today.
Detective Constable Dean King, of Telford CID, said police would be deploying the car across the borough wherever they saw a rise in vehicle crime.
Dummy mobile phones, laptops and personal equipment would be used in the vehicle to tempt criminals.
And Detective Constable Matt Gibbons said the case should act as a warning to other criminals that they could be next.
He said members of the public needed to realise that criminals would steal anything left on display.
“There was a rise in vehicle crime in the Wellington area so we decided to deploy the car, which is a plain car like anyone could own but it has cameras inside,” Mr Gibbons added.
Climbing
“We knew the alleyway was used by criminals. Poulton saw the opportunity and took it.
“We were able to identify Poulton from the video footage even with his hood up and when he saw it he could not deny it.
“Poulton was so desperate to get the equipment he broke the window but dropped it under the seat, and can then be seen climbing fully into the vehicle through the smashed window.
“This demonstrates the extent criminals will go to to get anything which will make them money — Poulton even took the coats off the back seat.
“We urge people to take anything valuable with them whenever they leave their vehicle and not to leave any signs of what may be inside,” he added.
It is only the second time the specialist car has been deployed by Telford police.
Detectives were waiting for the alarm to be activated telling them that the vehicle had been targeted after parking it up on March 30.
They discovered that the window had been smashed and the property gone after Poulton broke into it at 9.43pm.
By Crime Correspondent Kirsty Smallman
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Well done West Mercia police. At last, pro-active against these……(fill in the blank).
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A great initiative for which West Mercia Police deserve praise. If only the courts would make their efforts worthwhile by dealing out tough sentences. Anyone watching reality TV cop shows like “Cops with Cameras”, “Street Wars”, etc, will know that most often some very expensive and proactive work by the Police results in criminals simply getting cautions, referral orders, or community service. In other words, let off!
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Yeah but not so clever publishing it in the news paper for them all to find out about! Doh!
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You and many others are missing the point.
The goal is to discourage theft. If a thief (or many thieves) thinks twice about breaking in to a vehicle then the goal has been achieved.
Stop whining about your taxes being wasted and how the cops should be catching real criminals, …. blah blah. These are real criminals, and people suffer real loss.
Fine, maybe those caught should get much more severe sentences. But if you want to see a serious increase in tax revenue being spent, try expanding the prison service to deal with a bunch of half-witted criminals.
Peace.
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Phil, totally agree, this will inform criminals and make them more cautious, hopefully thinking twice.
Nobody knows what type of car it is or where it is situated so this should work as a good deterant!!! It’s all about spreading the word and awareness across the Borough.
Great work West Merica!
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More of the same please, boys in blue.
Let’s just hope the courts dont let us all down by giving a pathetic sentence like a fine to be paid 25p per week out of benefits, after, of course, he has paid his other outstanding fines…
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Ladies and Gentlemen for your delictation my next trick will show me reinventing the wheel…….Oops looks like I’m too late……………….
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it did me no good i had 1500 hundred pounds worth of goods stolen from my car they got the person who did it what did he get 18 weeks in prison of which he will do 9 It took me a very long time to save out of my penison every week and what do I get A LETTER to say this person gets 18 weeks and the tone of said letter was didnt we do well ye right
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Sorry to hear that, must have been so frustrating!
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I have to concur with the majority of other posters on here …. police bashing seems to have become a national pastime this last decade, but the reality is, so I’m told, there are not many police in Telford given the population, and despite as this article shows, the lengths they will go to to catch criminals, the rest of of justice system is a farce, thanks mainly to the previous governments touchy feely not their fault approach.
Here’s the question – even if as some so called ‘experts’ say prison doesn’t solve the problem; which would you as a self-respecting, law abiding, tax paying citizen prefer, the toerag who burgled Granny Miggin’s house and stole her pension locked away so he can’t do it to someone else or a long time, or walking down the street laughing in all our faces every day ?????
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So what your effectively saying is that if I were to leave a £20 note on the floor at the Peeler’s christmas ball and the chief commissioner were to pick it up and claim it. Then I can publicly humiliate them. If it is not called entrapment then I might just try that. Sounds to me like Jeremy Kyle policing. Now look at this in relation to your tax bill.
1 The car was set up by the police and broken. Your tax
2 The police time and wages. Your tax
3 The toe rag that broke the car will claim legal aid. Your tax
4 The courts time. Your tax
5 The probation/prison service. Your tax
By the time you have added that little lot into the equation is it any wonder all our graduates are fleeing the country.
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But…at least the toerag was caught, you are right though, a lot of money and time goes into covert operations, at least they are getting results though :-)
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Ha Ha, Graduates leaving the country is now the fault of the Police ?
Read between the lines, this individual receieved a decent sentence compared to some. What are the odds that he is one of a smallish number of people who commit a great deal of the crime in Telford ?
Well done the Police for some Proactive work, booooooo! to the Police bashers who can still turn a good news story into utter negativity.
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Instant justice is required.
It’s not their car
so
what are they doing inside it?
Trespass – probably not.
So probably a criminal offence
Police should be allowed to press the central locking and leave the theiving scum inside for a day (although that may count against any sentence they may or may not receive.
Even dogs on hot days suffer more inside cars than these toerags, so leave ‘em out in the “cooler”
Then if and when they crawl out birch them or cut off their hands
Mr Osborne is cutting incapacity benefit and they’d be doing well to fake the forms then?
Just a passing thought in case anyone thought I might really mean it ……?
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In reply to NOVAPOTIAN I surppose you have never had a crime committed agaist you all Ican say is I hope you never do if you do then you will see how useless the police are So please dont expect them to help because all you will get from them is a crime number and then a few weeks later a letter saying that they cannot take any one to court as there is no DNA or other evidence I found one of the items stole from my car and they had the scumbag on cctv selling it and still got the letter ro say they could not do any thing As I say I hope it never happens to you
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Great idea Judge Dread
It’s a shame the toerags broke the window to gain entry otherwise the clever coppers in their workshop could have rigged up a starting mechanism with a hose from the exhaust into the car and then we’d just have an inquest instead of some silly magistrates trial when they are clearly guilty.
Oh sorry have I just invoked Godwin’s Law regarding gassing?
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Law Abider @11 – although I’m not sure to be the case every time, stats do show that the Police are actually not that bad at finding out who has done the crime; the problem is that the level of evidence required for the Crown Prosecution Service / Criminal Protection Society (delete as appropriate) is so high that they will not even allow the majority of cases to be heard before the magistrates court in the first place so that three independent people can evaluate the evidence and make a fair judgement !!!!
So I’m told, unless you spurt out “It’s a fair cop guv, gunna do me porridge” chances are you ain’t walking down them steps !!
A cynical person would suggest that because the (previous) Government has given the CPS clear targets in percentage terms to achieve guilty results at court, it would be easy to manipulate which cases went forward to achieve the required results (and make themeselves look wonderful) ….. not a lot your local bobbies can do about that really, they don’t get a say in the matter !! – let’s see what the new lot do !!
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Stop giving the police such a hard time – they are up to their necks in scum – i’m over the moon to see such a scumbag get what he deserves – keep up the good work boys… keep the pressure on them!
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