Marine thieves arrested in Queenborough

[Concerto]

Just reported on Medway and Swale Boating Association (http://msba.org.uk/)

Harbour Manager Emma Crompton tells us what happened. On the afternoon of 25 June, an alert mooring holder at Queenborough Harbour spotted three chaps in an inflatable dinghy removing an outboard from another boat. The harbour team quickly came over in the trot boat while the police were called. One of the thieves disembarked with the outboard in the mud by the coal washer, only to drop it in his struggle to get ashore. The other two went back to the slipway but when they saw the police they headed back to the coal washer area where they abandoned the dinghy. Their two vehicles contained marine equipment stolen from Devon the night before, though the three suspects, who were subequently arrested, were from Kent, though not local. The inflatable dinghy had been stolen from the tender park in March! Emma and some helpers managed to recover the outboard from the mud before the tide claimed it – see photo.

This just shows how brazen the thieves are and how important it is to be alert to suspicious activity.

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Excellent. Now if they can find out who fences the gear....

 

[ex-Gladys]

Isn't that what boat jumbles and boot sales are for?

 

[Daydream believer]

You mean that the police actually turned up? Wow that must be a first. Hope they arrested the people who discovered the thieves, otherwise the public will get confused

last year at st Lawrence Bay some of our club members caught some thieves aboard a boat. Our club members launched the support boat & captured them in a dinghy. Photo'd the thieves & rang the police & held them offshore in the dinghy expecting the police to arrive.
The police said that as we had recovered the goods we should let them go. We had their car number photos etc and no action was taken. No police ever turned up.
The dinghy they used was clearly stolen & dumped on the beach. Our harbour master noted the identification No. on the dinghy & told the police. He was asked to recover it & look after it. Nothing was done to advertise its recovery - facebooke etc- so recently the harbourmaster was told by the police that he may as well keep it for the club.
The members considered towing them to the other side of the river & dumping them there to give them a long walk home - but that might have resulted in a kidnap charge. Police would have turned up then !!!!

 

[Keith 66]

There has been an ongoing spate of thieving on the essex side centred on Old leigh for quite some time, well over a year, the culprit is known but still it goes on.
At a meeting at Lsc a month ago the police got quite a roasting from a packed house of aggreived locals.
Im glad to hear the marine section has been expanded up to 5 officers. Much was made about reporting crimes & that if crimes are not reported they wont count.
Trouble is if you look at the Police UK website you can look at Postcode areas & pull up all the crimes in any area. Wonderful you might think? Except there is no category for marine crime so they do not show.
And so the waste of space Police & crime commissioner can say "There are no marine crimes!". You couldnt make it up.

 

[Old Harry]

You mean that the police actually turned up? Wow that must be a first. Hope they arrested the people who discovered the thieves, otherwise the public will get confused

last year at st Lawrence Bay some of our club members caught some thieves aboard a boat. Our club members launched the support boat & captured them in a dinghy. Photo'd the thieves & rang the police & held them offshore in the dinghy expecting the police to arrive.
The police said that as we had recovered the goods we should let them go. We had their car number photos etc and no action was taken. No police ever turned up.
The dinghy they used was clearly stolen & dumped on the beach. Our harbour master noted the identification No. on the dinghy & told the police. He was asked to recover it & look after it. Nothing was done to advertise its recovery - facebooke etc- so recently the harbourmaster was told by the police that he may as well keep it for the club.
The members considered towing them to the other side of the river & dumping them there to give them a long walk home - but that might have resulted in a kidnap charge. Police would have turned up then !!!!

To be honest, i would have though their vehicle would have been difficult to drive with 4 flat tyres

 

[PaulRainbow]

To be honest, i would have though their vehicle would have been difficult to drive with 4 flat tyres

Even harder to drive if it accidentally sank to the bottom of the bay.

 

[Biggles Wader]

You mean that the police actually turned up? Wow that must be a first. Hope they arrested the people who discovered the thieves, otherwise the public will get confused

last year at st Lawrence Bay some of our club members caught some thieves aboard a boat. Our club members launched the support boat & captured them in a dinghy. Photo'd the thieves & rang the police & held them offshore in the dinghy expecting the police to arrive.
The police said that as we had recovered the goods we should let them go. We had their car number photos etc and no action was taken. No police ever turned up.
The dinghy they used was clearly stolen & dumped on the beach. Our harbour master noted the identification No. on the dinghy & told the police. He was asked to recover it & look after it. Nothing was done to advertise its recovery - facebooke etc- so recently the harbourmaster was told by the police that he may as well keep it for the club.
The members considered towing them to the other side of the river & dumping them there to give them a long walk home - but that might have resulted in a kidnap charge. Police would have turned up then !!!!

The answer is to call the police and tell them you have captured the scrotes in their dinghy but need assistance as they appear to be armed. Plod will turn up then.

 

[Malish]

The answer is to call the police and tell them you have captured the scrotes in their dinghy but need assistance as they appear to be armed. Plod will turn up then.

And if you suspect they have been trying to nick flares then you can add explosives to the list..

 

[PeterWright]

You mean that the police actually turned up? Wow that must be a first. Hope they arrested the people who discovered the thieves, otherwise the public will get confused

last year at st Lawrence Bay some of our club members caught some thieves aboard a boat. Our club members launched the support boat & captured them in a dinghy. Photo'd the thieves & rang the police & held them offshore in the dinghy expecting the police to arrive.
The police said that as we had recovered the goods we should let them go. We had their car number photos etc and no action was taken. No police ever turned up.
The dinghy they used was clearly stolen & dumped on the beach. Our harbour master noted the identification No. on the dinghy & told the police. He was asked to recover it & look after it. Nothing was done to advertise its recovery - facebooke etc- so recently the harbourmaster was told by the police that he may as well keep it for the club.
The members considered towing them to the other side of the river & dumping them there to give them a long walk home - but that might have resulted in a kidnap charge. Police would have turned up then !!!!

A sad and all too common story which is happily in contrast with the Queenboro' case and the Brightlingsea case reported here: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?503470-Brightlingsea-thefts
With or without the pointless Police and Crime Commissioners, our police forces are woefully under resourced and political pressure is put on our court system not to lock up the offenders when they are caught (to save money on prisons!). How frustrating it must be for the police to put in a lot of hard work to catch criminals, only to see them released with a suspended sentence or community penalty to offend again. The much vaunted statistic that shows those given custodial sentances re offending is unsurprising as, before receiving a custodial sentence, they have had a few of the softer options and come to the conclusion that being caught committing a crime is fairly painless.

The sooner our leaders realise that locking criminals up at least stops them re offending until they are released, the better.

Peter

 

[Triassic]

....
The police said that as we had recovered the goods we should let them go.

The trick is to ring them up about ten minutes later and tell them not to rush, the thieves have capsized their dinghy and all drowned. When the subsequent band wagon arrives to deal with this "major incident" and they ask you why your information appears to be incorrect you can remind them they said they didn't have anyone available to attend.......

On a serious note it's not really the front line officers fault, they are simply doing the very best they can with the resources they have available, and their management dictate they have to cut corners and decide what they can deal with, and what has to be left. Ultimately society gets what it pays for, and short term gains seem more popular than long term investment in our future.

 

[ex-Gladys]

There has been a series on Pick called Force Essex, which was rather enlightening; the particular incident that springs to mind, is a drunk driver who collided with an off-licence in North Colchester, and blew stupid numbers on the roadside test. The nearest custody suite with someone qualified to do the test was Rayleigh. What a terrible waste of two officers time having to spend a couple of hours driving to Rayleigh and back and processing the offender there... Probably the only call they could deal with in the shift.