Royston Community Team

Rural Watch

August 2007

Covering Arbury, Ermine, Weston & Sandon Wards.

A crime that is gathering speed in other areas is vehicle thefts, most vehicles that are less than 12 years old have engine immobilises fitted. The crooks find it almost impossible to steal vehicles without the keys. It can even take a trained mechanic a considerable amount of time to start your vehicle without the keys.

PLEASE LOOK AFTER YOUR KEYS.

If a vehicle is stolen with keys some insurance companies will not pay out.

The most popular ways of stealing vehicles;-

Entering your house when you are asleep. The offenders break into your house in the hours of darkness; search cloakrooms, coats, handbags ect, then take keys for cars that are parked on your drive or outside your house.

When you fill your vehicle up with fuel. Please do not leave the keys in your vehicle when you pay for the fuel. We do have a lot of vehicles stolen in situations like this. It is a real gift for the thief they have the keys and you has just filled it up with fuel.

My advice SLEEP WITH YOUR KEYS

Ever wondered how offenders break into one car in a car park with 100 + vehicles in and pick the one with a laptop computer or mobile phone in it? They can use a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone.

How offenders do it (very basically). They set a mobile phone to search for other Bluetooth enabled devices. The phone then searches & identifies other devices. Up to 10 metres in the open & 2 metres if in a car. They can fine tune the search so it almost acts as a direction indicator.

Not only does it tell them where the laptop is, it tells the make and model! This will also work on other Bluetooth enabled devices.

For this to work all devices have to be on or in standby mode. If your devices are fully off it will not work.

BE WARNED! Don’t leave valuables in your car unattended.

This is a Con

This is the type of e-mail being sent out on this occasion they have named the Nationwide other banks names have been used also, if your bank wants to change anything they will write to you not e-mail, please be on your guard.

Dear Nationwide customer,

During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification procedures, we have detected a slight error in your billing information.

This might be due to either of the following reasons:

1. A recent change in your personal information (i.e. change of address).

2. Submitting invalid information during the initial sign up process.

3. An inability to accurately verify your selected option of payment due to an internal error within our processors.

Please update and verify your information by clicking the link below:

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/update.dll?NbankPlaceInfo

If your account information is not updated within 48 hours then your ability to access your account will become restricted.

Thank you Nationwide Building Society

Hinxworth	High Street	25/07/07 0840 - 0905	18 veh / 33 mph / 26.9 mph
Ashwell	West end / Newham way	25/07/07 0910 - 0935	26 veh / 33 mph / 22.2 mph
Ashwell	Station rd (40 limit)	25/07/07 1015 - 1040	20 veh / 44 mph / 33.3 mph
Weston	Damask green rd	26/07/07 1500 – 1525	17 veh / 30 mph / 24.2 mph
Rushden	Moon + Stars	Road Works – 24/07/07	Road Works – 24/07/07
Bygrave	Upper Bygrave	24/07/07 1130 - 1155	20 veh / 44 mph / 26.3 mph
Barley	Cambridge Road	17/07/07 1700 – 1730	27 veh / 33 mph / 26.1 mph
Barkway	Cambridge Road	25/07/07 1100 - 1125	17 veh / 32 mph / 28.4 mph
Therfield	Hay Green	24/07/07 1230 - 1255	13 veh / 36 mph / 26 mph
Newham	Ashwell road	25/07/07 0940 - 1005	18 veh / 33 mph / 24.5 mph

G4E; - Ashwell, Hinxworth, Bygrave, Newnham & Caldecote

A burglary occurred at Slip End Pumping Station sometime between Thursday 5^th and Sunday 8^th July. The thieves jemmied their way into the premises and stole a stainless steel drum cover. (Crime no. G4/07/748).

The front and rear registration plates were stolen from a Vauxhall Corsa parked in Back Street, Ashwell overnight of Wednesday 11^th July. (Crime no. G4/07/760).

At 5pm on Saturday 14^th July a chap entered o OAP’s house near Baldock told her that he was from the water board and after confusing her stole £140. (Crime no. G4/07/767).

On the evening of the 16^th July we had 2 sets on index plates stolen from two cars and a sat nav stolen from another vehicle.

G4D; - Barkway, Barley, Reed, Nuthampstead, Newsells, Kelshall & Therfield

Three shed break crimes occurred between the 27^th – 28^th July two in Barkway and one Barley. Property stolen includes Lawn mowers chainsaws and strimmers.

G3C; - Sandon, Wallington, Rushden, Clothal & Weston

Police were called to reports of a disturbance at an address in Hitchin Road, Weston during the afternoon of Sunday 1^st July. The attending Officers arrested a 53-year-old male for making threats to damage property at the location. (Crime no. G3/07/612).

Between 5pm and 6pm on Sunday 8^th July, a mobile telephone was stolen from a holdall which had been left unattended at the Cricket Pavilion in Sandon.

(Crime no. G3/07/630).

A head collar and muzzle was cut from a horse whilst it grazed in a field in Weston between 1pm and 4pm on Sunday 8^th July. (Crime no. G3/07/631).

MAN CHARGED IN CONNECTION WITH TESCO BLACKMAIL INQUIRY

FOLLOWING a nationwide police investigation, led by Hertfordshire Constabulary, a man has been charged in connection with a series of bomb threats at Tesco stores.
Philip McHugh, aged 51 of Milton Avenue, Clitheroe, has been charged with two counts of blackmail and bomb hoaxing and is due to appear before Stevenage Magistrates today (26 July) at 10am.

He was arrested on Monday July 23 in Clitheroe, Lancashire by officers of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and was questioned at a police station in Hertfordshire, where he was later charged.
Throughout the investigation Hertfordshire Constabulary has worked closely with Tesco and SOCA. The arrest and local inquiries in Clitheroe were made with the support of Lancashire Constabulary.
Police are not seeking anyone else in connection with these offences.
Assistant Chief Constable Gary Kitching from Hertfordshire Constabulary said: “Throughout the whole inquiry public safety was of paramount importance to both ourselves and Tesco.
“The successful charging of Philip McHugh has come about through the hard work and tenacity of officers and police staff not only from Hertfordshire but from other forces, and we thank them for their support.”
Although financial demands were made against Tesco, at no point did the company pay out any money.
Gary added: “Demands of this nature are taken very seriously but it’s crucial that in cases like this companies are not held to ransom and are given the support from law agencies to deal with the issue head on”.
Tesco's Retail and Logistics Director, David Potts welcomed the speedy conclusion of the investigation: "Throughout this series of events, the safety of the public and our staff was always our top priority and we worked closely with the police to respond quickly and responsibly.
“These were of course worrying threats and I am pleased that an individual has been arrested and charged.
“I would like to thank Hertfordshire Constabulary and the other agencies involved for their efficient handling of this investigation. I would also like to thank our staff who acted so professionally during the security threats to reassure customers and get stores back open as soon as possible.
“The response from customers was fantastic. They were so understanding about the disruption and I am extremely grateful for their patience and continued loyalty.”

POLICE APPEAL FOR INFORMATION FOLLOWING THEFTS OF AERIALS FROM MOTOR VEHICLES – NORTH HERTS

POLICE are appealing for information after a series of thefts of aerials from motor vehicles across North Herts.
The thefts are believed to have taken place between Saturday night (July 21st) and Tuesday (July 24th).
Six aerials were taken from vehicles in Baldock and twenty have been taken in Royston.
Chief Inspector Geoff Camp, Chief Inspector for North Herts, said that police are linking the incidents.
“North Herts remains a safe place to live but this crime series is unusual and we are lining the incidents. It has caused inconvenience to the victims of this crime and I would urge anyone who has any information in relation to these incidents to contact me police immediately.

Total for 2003 – 2004 = 80

Total for 2004 – 2005 = 26

Total for 2005 – 2006 = 6

Total for 2006 – 2007 = 17

Reported Hare coursing Incidents in our area.

	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	April
03-04	3	13	28	3	8	13	9	3
04-05	4	13	4	0	4	0	1	0
05-06	0	3	0	0	1	1	1	0
06-07	0	4	4	6	1	0	2	0

Last time we attended

RUSHDEN	20/02/07	SANDON	08/02/06
THERFIELD	25/04/07	REED	07/03/07
BARKWAY	16/05/07	BARLEY	08/01/07
KELSHALL	16/04/07	NUTHAMP	01/05/07
ASHWELL	06/12/06	BYGRAVE	08/01/07
CALDECOTE	05/01/07	WESTON	08/03/07
RADWELL	24/04/07	WALLIGTON	20/02/07
HINXWORT	01/03/07	CLOTHALL	09/05/07

Area	Last Meeting	Next Meeting	Location and Time
G4E	31^st January 2007	15^th August 2007	Parish Rooms Ashwell
G4D	7^th December 2006	18th July 2007	Fordham Hall, Therfield, 8pm.
G3C	27^th March 2007

Our first Locality Panel Meeting took place at kelshall Village Hall on the 19th April, we had a very interesting meeting and my first tasks were set.

Locality

Members

Martin Dingemans, Eric Gurney, Howard Marshall, Simon Holtom, Robert Law, Teddy Faure-Walker, Michael Meredith-Hardy, Steve Jarvis, Andrew Young, Tony Hunter, Gill Renison, Peter Shuttlewood, Keith Bone.

Meeting

19/04/07

Tasks set

1. Reducing Incidents of Nusience Motor cycling and Nusience 4 X 4 use, by increasing weekend patrols.

2. Supply uncorrupted data of the true speed of vehicles travelling on, A507 Radwell, London Road Barley, Causeway Therfield, Damask Green, Station Road, Newnham Road & Mill Street Ashwell, Mill Street Rushden and the A507 Clothall on Wednesdays.

Please click on the below link to meet some of the people we wish to becomes friends with.

http://www.herts.police.uk/CCTV/gallery.htm

Rural Watch

Jan

RUSHDEN

SANDON

THERFIELD

ASHWELL

BYGRAVE

CALDECOTE

Please click on the below link to meet some of the people we wish to becomes friends with.