Security Blog

Hartley jailed for Barbara Haynes burglary Mrs Haynes had been woken in her bedroom by Hartley who had been standing on the window sill A burglar whose 86-year-old victim suffered a suspected heart attack weeks after the break-in has been jailed for 16 months.

Barbara Haynes, from Wheatfield Court, Lancaster, died eight weeks after William Hartley climbed through a window of her home on 15 February.Hartley, of Sun Street, Lancaster, had pleaded guilty to the burglary at a previous hearing.Preston Crown Court was told Mrs Haynes was "never the same" after the raid.

She had alerted police by pulling an emergency cord and Hartley fled empty-handed but the pensioner later felt unwell and had to be taken to hospital.Fingerprints on the window of her home in Wheatfield Court were traced to the defendant who was arrested and told officers he had been out drinking and had taken valium.He then committed a public order offence while on bail and assaulted his girlfriend, the court heard.

David Traynor, prosecuting, said Mrs Haynes had been woken in her bedroom by Hartley who had been standing on the window sill.When later interviewed by police, she said that although she was "a woman who did not scare easily", she had been "very frightened".
Mr Traynor said: "Her daughter says that in her opinion her mother was never the same after the break-in.

A burglar who tied up a defenceless pensioner and left her for dead when she disturbed a raid on her home was jailed for nine years today.
Szymon Wyrostek, 26, killed 83-year-old Eveline Kelmenson after breaking into her £1million five-bedroom house along with Kuba Dlugosz, 33.
The Jewish spinster, known as Lina, was bound and gagged with gaffer tape and left in her night clothes between two single beds in her first-floor bedroom in Leweston Place, Stamford Hill, north London.
Victim: Eveline Kelmenson, 83, was tied up and left to die at her £1million five-bedroom home
The raiders forced their way in through the cellar on November 27, 2008, before stripping her of a gold necklace she had been wearing and her mother's wedding ring and locking her inside the sprawling property.
They then ransacked her home looking for anything of value as she lay helpless on the floor.
She suffered a slow death from hypothermia over the days that followed as she lay helpless and unable to free herself.

Man who buried mother of his child alive in cardboard 'coffin' convicted of attempted murder Police found her body five weeks later, on January 1, 2009, after a niece, one of few remaining relatives, became concerned that she could not be contacted.
Wryostek denied the manslaughter of Miss Kelmenson, as well as robbery and burglary, but was convicted following a trial at the Old Bailey.
Dlugosz, a convicted robber also known as Piotr Bugucki, was convicted of identical charges at an earlier trial, during which jurors failed to reach a verdict in respect of his co-defendant.
Thug: Szymon Wyrostek (left) was convicted of all charges and handed nine years in jail and Kuba Dlugosz, who was convicted at an earlier trial

Dlugosz was given an indefinite jail term in July and will serve at least seven years before he can apply to a parole board for release.
He was wanted on a European arrest warrant for skipping a prison sentence at time of the killing.
The pair first came to police attention weeks before they targeted Miss Kelmeson's house, on November 9 when they tried to break in to a house in Eastern Avenue, Ilford, the home of another elderly woman.
They were arrested and Dlugosz was charged with criminal damage and bailed, while no further action was taken against Wyrostek.
Wyrostek, originally from Slupszk in Poland, was also arrested just three days before the break-in at Miss Kelmenson's house for a public order offence following an incident in nearby Moresby Road.
Scales of justice: At the Old Bailey in London, Judge Gerald Gordon jailed Wyrostek for nine years for the attack
He had previously been arrested and charged over the robbery of another man in Foxes Parade, Waltham Abbey, Essex, in July of that year.
Dlugosz's criminal history only came to light when detectives investigating Miss Kelmenson's death made their own inquiries.
He had been convicted of two robberies in his home city of Bialystok in November 2000, after forcing his way into schools and and binding up caretakers - in almost identical attacks to that on Miss Kelmesoon.
But it took until last year for scientists to link the DNA traces from her home to his profile found at a previous break-in because of new techniques.
He was jailed for seven years but was released on home leave on December 29, 2004, when he robbed his girlfriend's mother and was jailed for another three years and six months.
But Dlugosz was again given weekend home leave in 2007 and fled to the UK.
On October 22, 2008, Dlugosz committed a burglary at Sharon's Bakery, close to Manor House tube station, and only a 'stone's throw' from Miss Kelmenson's house.
During the break-in part of his rubber gloves was ripped off and left at the scene, which enabled police to obtain his DNA profile.
On the night of November 27 Wyrostek and Dlugosz made their way in to Miss Kelmenson's house through an insecure cellar window and then forced a locked door up to the ground floor.
After binding her up, they gagged her mouth with gaffer tape so she could not cry out for help.
Eveline Kelmenson's home in Stamford Hill, north London, where she was tied up and left to die
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, told jurors that both men had then locked the front door and left their victim with 'no means of escape' as they made their getaway.
He said: 'It obviously have have been a terrifying experience for an 83-year-old woman who did not have the physical strength to loosen, or escape from, the bindings.
Most tragically, because she led an independent life, neither did anyone else. He added.There is no evidence that Miss Kelmenson was actually subjected to any violence.
'But the act of gagging and tying up an old lady was of course an extremely dangerous thing to have done, and they plainly gave no thought as to how she might be able to escape.'
Wyrostek was arrested in September 2010 and refused to answer questions in a taped police interview.
During the trial he claimed he had not been part of the burglary and had never even visited the house.
Miss Kelmenson had complained to neighbours, family, workmen and carers that people were getting in to the house and moving her property, looking to steal money.
'Unfortunately the people she had made the complaints to had put it down to harmless delusions,' said Detective Chief Inspector Stewart Hill.
'Each house has a basement or cellar. It was quite clear this was a vulnerable part of the house. It was quite clear squatters had either got in to the basement or at least attempted to.'
Miss Kelmenson, a former secretary, was the descendant of Russian migrants who arrived in the late 1800s.
She never married and had no children. She outlived her brother and sister, who also lived at the property.
At the time of her death her only remaining relatives were her niece and her niece's children and grandchildren.
Dlugosz, of no fixed address, and Wyrostek, of Broad Lane, Tottenham, denied manslaughter, robbery and burglary.
Jailing Wyrostek for nine years, Judge Gerald Gordon said what he had done to his victim was 'to any right-thinking person, unbelievably awful'.

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Burglaries up 14% - British Crime Survey
The British Crime Survey suggested there were 9.6 million crimes in England and Wales in 2010-11
Burglaries at homes in England and Wales rose by 14% in 2010-11 compared with the previous year, the British Crime Survey (BCS) suggests.
The survey of 45,000 households also indicated overall crime levels were up slightly, though researchers said this was not "statistically significant".
Separate data of crimes recorded by police showed crime fell 4% and domestic burglary was down 4%.
Officials regard the BCS as the most reliable indicator of crime trends.
Recorded crime figures suggested a 10% rise in the number of recorded thefts of unattended mobiles, wallets and purses from pubs, household property from gardens, and metal or industrial equipment.
The total number of crimes recorded by police fell by about 100,000 to 4.2 million over the last year.
In contrast, the BCS figures showed there were about 9.6 million crimes overall in 2010-11, compared with 9.5 million the previous year.
If you're looking for clarity about crime, these figures don't provide it. The two sets of data appear completely at odds.
The BCS estimates that crime in most of the main categories is up - though only the burglary rise is said to be "statistically significant" - whereas almost all offences recorded by police - including burglary - are down.
There's certainly no concrete evidence that the recession is driving crime increases.
But a rise in the police category of "other theft" - which includes thefts of unattended items such as mobile phones and wallets - might be an early sign that people who are feeling the pinch are pinching stuff.
To get a sense of trends in violent crime, it's instructive to look at the figures for homicide (murder, manslaughter, infanticide) which aren't subject to any vagaries in counting methods.
They show that the decade-long downward trend is more or less continuing. The number of attempted murders was at its lowest for many years - an indication that we're not as violent a society as the headlines would have us believe.
A separate survey by Victim Support suggests that just over one in three victims of crime (35%) feels they are kept in the dark after reporting an offence.
The charity's poll of 1,100 victims also found 39% of them felt justice needed to be speeded up so victims could move on with their lives.
Officials advised "caution" over the BCS burglary figures saying the rise to 745,000 followed a record low the previous year of 651,000, and said the current estimate was more in line with those for the previous five years.
They said it would be "premature" to view the figure as evidence of a newly rising trend in domestic burglary.
They also said some commentators had expected to see rises in acquisitive crime due to the recession and greater unemployment but there was no firm evidence for this.
"Despite difficult economic conditions these latest statistics show no consistent evidence of upward pressure across the range of acquisitive crime," the researchers concluded.
But they said both sets of figures indicated that the long-term downward trend in crime since the mid-1990s was "easing".
Other figures from the BCS pointed to a big rise in domestic violence, up 35% in a year.
However, officials said the number of domestic violence victims surveyed was small which meant the figures were "prone to fluctuation".

Chief Constable Jon Murphy, head of crime for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said officers would be seeking to find any emerging patterns of criminality to the rise in burglaries and thefts.
He added that the "significant increase" in metal theft was due to the price of second-hand scrap metal.
"This has a potentially significant impact on the national critical infrastructure and consequent risk to the public," he added.
Simon Reed, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: "Today's statistics must serve as a stark warning to government - stop, think and urgently reconsider the 20% cut to the police service."
Burglary up according to British Crime SurveyCrime states starting to creep upward
20 October 2011
The latest British Crime Survey quarterly crime update shows an increase in household burglary.
The latest crime figures from the British Crime Survey (BCS) released today indicate household burglary had increased by 10%, and ‘other household theft’, including thefts from gardens and sheds, has increased 13%.
The BCS, which was compiled on the basis of interviews in June 2011, also shows a 7% rise in theft from the person, but a 9% drop in vandalism.
However, the Home Office’s Quarterly Update emphasized that the BCS figures showing a rise in burglary come alongside a 3% fall in police recorded burglaries, and were ‘not statistically significant’. The Quarterly Update, which compiles the BCS and police recorded crime, was recorded over the 12 months to this June and does not include the recent riots.
Which? Money expert Dan Moore says: 'The different positions on the increase or fall in crime could be based on such factors as whether crimes such as burglary were reported to the police. In any event they bring home the need to take personal and household security seriously.
Make sure you are covered
This follows figures in August from NFU Mutual - a Which? Recommended Provider for home insurance - suggesting criminals are systematically targeting Britain's farms with a 17% rise in ‘agri-crime' over the last two years.
Make sure your home is properly covered by reading our guides to contents and home insurance, including what you’re usually covered for, optional extras, common exclusions, and how to bring down your premiums by increasing security.
Common exclusions include losses due to theft if you've let or sub-let your house, unless there are signs of forced entry, and cover for items like car sat navs. Even if they're kept in your home they won't usually be covered by contents insurance, and often aren't covered by your car insurance policy either.
Burglar overpowered by three Catholic priests
A burglar who scrambled up a drain pipe to break into the home of three Catholic priests was over powered by the trio who sat on him till police arrived in a scene that could have been straight out of TV's Father Ted.
7:40AM BST 13 Oct 2011
The burglar was no match for the three - all in their 60s - and led by a former rugby playing clergyman who launched a flying tackle to bring the intruder to the floor.
Two of the priests, Father Jimmy Shiel, 67, and Father Kieran Magovern, 66, had both undergone triple heart bypass operations in the past.
But along with Indian born Father Chacko Panathara, 61, they didn't think twice about tackling the burglar who was in his 20s.
Not only that, but just hours later the three parish priests were going about their church duties with early morning mass, baptisms and meetings with parents of children preparing for their first communions

Burglary

Police criticised for staging mock burglaries, 29 March 2010

Officers who 'burgled' Exeter homes as part of crime prevention exercise accused of trespass.

No retrial for man accused of attacking burglar, 29 March 2010

A man accused of attacking a burglar at his family's home in Buckinghamshire will not face a retrial, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

Warning over letterbox burglaries in Reading, 21 March 2010

Police in Reading have issued a warning to residents after several recent burglaries where thieves opened the front door through the letter box.

Burglaries and muggings on the rise - how do you protect yourself and your home, 18 February 2010Police figures show that the number of domestic burglaries rose last year for the first time in six years - and very often burglars turn violent when confronted by householders

The final breath rattled through Ivan Kanev's sallow, spent torso. For months he had injected eye drops called tropicamide – used medically to dilate pupils – directly into the femoral artery of his groin. The drug is known as "seven-monther" – the amount of time it takes to kill. His body was found by his father in his Moscow apartment. The 25-year-old had died alone.

Ivan's father Sergei sits in a greasy chicken shop in the Moscow suburb of Lubna. Extending a nicotine-stained finger, he prods a black Dictaphone and says: "He was this colour and bigger than me." Sergei is a huge, hulking man, with broad shoulders, but Ivan was slight, pale and blond. It is unclear whether the bloating happened before or after his death.

As crime correspondent for Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Sergei has long contemplated his own death. The paper is known for its fearless reporting and the murder of its journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya, chronicler of the Chechen conflict. There have been several attempts on Sergei's life – a thug once lay in wait to strangle him with a wire in his apartment stairwell. These days, he keeps a video camera rolling in his bag everywhere he goes so that any would-be assassin may be captured.

A recent article in Novaya Gazeta, written by one of Sergei's colleagues, accused the Russian government of allowing drugs companies to profit from medicine addicts.

Sergei says street pushers, chemists, the police, pharmaceutical companies and the government are all implicated in a vast protection racket. He refers to those involved as "Chekists", alluding to the Cheka, the first Soviet security agency.

Russia has the second highest number of opiate users in the world after China, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). As the government takes measures to stem the flow of heroin seeping into the country from Afghanistan, leading to a smaller, more expensive supply, cheap over-the-counter drugs have become a popular substitute.

Krokodil – its medical name is desomorphine – is a favourite. Synthesised from codeine, it slowly rots the body over a period of around two years. Nikolai Kartashov, the deputy head of the Federal Drugs Control Service, told the Russian press that in 2010 krokodil accounted for between 60 and 70 per cent of drug busts. The same agency reports 40,000 drug-related deaths each year.

Various estimates put the number of krokodil users at between 100,000 and a million, but as it is a cheap substitute drug and users rarely visit rehab centres, the actual number is difficult to calculate. "We have no estimates on the misuse of prescription drugs in Russia," says Angela Me, the chief of statistics and surveys at UNODC. The government can claim huge successes in its "war on drugs" after major heroin busts, but chemists are filling the void. Meanwhile, young people across Russia like Ivan Kanev are trapped in an inevitable, slow suicide.

In the months before his death, Ivan emitted a green hue, his head perpetually tilted back, his eyes were vacant, and he appeared ghoulish. Every three hours, day and night, he rushed to a chemist called "Kind Mother". The eyedrops cost 400 roubles (£2) with a prescription, but at Kind Mother they are available to anyone for an extra 50 or 100 roubles. Sergei says there are 40 such pharmacies in Moscow. Kind Mother is open until midnight. After that a man stands on the street pushing prescription narcotics.

Ivan had a two-year respite from his medical drugs binge while imprisoned for stealing mobile phones. Inside he was only able to obtain heroin, sold to inmates by warders. His addiction became less toxic, he went to the gym and wrote a letter to his father promising to turn his life around.

While Ivan was in prison, Sergei watched his son's childhood friends degenerate from addiction. According to Avert, the international HIV/Aids charity, one-fifth of injecting drug users contract HIV, and the number living with the disease in Russia is just under a million. Ivan's best friend, nicknamed Pushkin because of his big, curly hair, visited Sergei while Ivan was inside. He had Aids, was hooked on over-the-counter drugs, in chronic pain and homeless. Using the familiar and deferential word "uncle", he begged Sergei to help him hang himself. Sergei refused, and a month later, he says, Pushkin died a savagely painful death.

Ivan was out of prison for only a week when the lure of prescription medicines trapped him again. He became vacant, gaunt and pale, as if death had already begun to claim him. He stole from his father and erupted into fits of anger, smashing family photographs. There are now few images left of Ivan apart from those of his corpse.

While Sergei was out of town for work, Ivan's heart stopped and he had to be revived by friends. Sergei told him it was his first warning that he was going to die. Ivan realised he had been taking the "seven-monther" for five months. That meant he had only two months left. He decided to kick the habit. He cleaned his flat, applied for jobs and took exercise. His cheeks ached from smiling for the first time in months.

It lasted a week. The final chapter of his life was the most painful for his father to watch. Sergei offered the police money to put Ivan back in prison and they agreed to concoct a burglary for 5,000 roubles. But Sergei backed down, knowing burglary carried a hefty sentence. "I wanted him to go to prison for his actual crime – taking drugs," he says.

On a bleak, brutally cold morning in March, Sergei got a call at work from his mother. A framed photograph of Ivan had come crashing to the floor of her apartment – she took it as a sign. Sergei rushed to Ivan's flat. A note on the door read, "Ring loudly because I'm sleeping". Sergei rang, knocked, then bashed the door. No one stirred and the door was jammed shut. He called the police, who broke it down.

Ivan's head, neck and shoulders were black and had swollen to double their size. "I didn't recognise him apart from the pin pricks in his skin," Sergei said. The crime correspondent in him took over. He took his camera out of his bag and committed it all to film.

He shows stills from the film to anyone willing to look. Ivan's torso was charred from the chest up; he lay half sprawled, half in the foetal position, on his bedspread, blackened pools of blood next to him, his mobile phone at his side. His eyes squeezed shut, his mouth seemingly mid-howl, he looks as though an explosive had gone off inside him. "He died like a match that went up in flames," Sergei said.

The police told Sergei they pick up a couple of overdose corpses in Moscow each week. He met parents at the morgue who were burying their second child lost to drugs. Sergei got rid of the family-owned apartment where Ivan had stayed and where the acrid scent of drugs cooked by his friends clung to the walls.

Lubna's graveyard seems disproportionately large for the suburb's population. Ivan is buried next to Sergei's wife, in a plot he had reserved for himself, never expecting to outlive his son. Sergei's wife died 10 years ago and they had only two children. None of Ivan's friends made it to his funeral – they were all dead or in prison. It was attended by a priest, Sergei and his daughter Katia, 22.

A month after Ivan's death Katia died too. She was Sergei's great hope – clean-living and ambitious, she had never touched drugs. But in the dreary Moscow suburb, having friends who are addicts was unavoidable. Her ex-boyfriend, Murtaza Tsabutashvili, is on trial charged with causing her death. He hit Katia over the head while intoxicated. Sergei buried his daughter on his son's 26th birthday.

I'm not so sure legalization is the answer with these more deadly drugs like krok. After all, liquor is legal, and is the aggravating factor in such a large percentage of crime all over the world. While legalizing it lessened the distribution crimes, it did nothing towards the effect alcohol has on everyday life.

Legalizing opiates would have much the same effect. Just because it would be legal to buy, that in no way suddenly guarantees that crime will be unnecessary in obtaining it. Opiate addicts are not suddenly going to become wage earners, and the drug companies are not going to be giving it away. Legalizing it also in no way make it less likely to be used and abused. In countries where drugs are largely legal may have a much smaller prisoner population. But they effectively use that savings in the cost of treatment(s). While usually treatment costs lower than incarceration, it is often ineffective, requiring multiple treatments (in my own case, 6 seems to have been the magic number, but who knows, sobriety is never guaranteed.)

I'm not sure what the right answer is. I wholeheartedly agree that addiction is an illness, and with many addictions is linked directly to brain chemical function. I do believe that opiates are in a different class of addiction. One where the substance being abused has a far greater role in the addiction than in many others.

It's a tough problem. But I don't think legalizing these deadly opiates is the answer. But on the other hand, legalizing marijuana seems to make sense. And comparing the two is like comparing watch to a sundial. They both provide somewhat similar output, but one is far and away more complex than the other.

Affinity One Security Solutions

Tel 08000 336 999 Specialist in Burglar

Alarms, CCTV and Security Solutions

England riots: primary school assistant pleads guilty to Croydon burglaryStockwell learning mentor, 31, bailed after pleading guilty to charge of breaking and entering at electrical shop

Wednesday 10 August 2011 14.51 BST Article historyAlexis Bailey emerges from Highbury Corner magistrates court – only to walk into lamppost. Video: BBC/YouTube A primary school assistant has appeared in court accused of being part of a mob that tried to loot an electrical store during the riots in London on Monday.

Alexis Bailey, 31, who works for Stockwell primary school in Stockwell Road, south London, was arrested in the Richer Sounds store, Croydon, just after midnight, Highbury Corner magistrates court heard.

Bailey was one of a string of cases passing before London magistrates on Wednesday. Police cells in the capital are now full of suspects from the disturbances, and 167 people have been charged with offences and are being seen at a number of courts.

Lambeth council confirmed that Bailey worked at one of its primary schools.

Bailey was not seen taking any goods at the shop, in South End Road, Croydon, and he gave himself up when ordered downstairs by riot police, magistrates were told.

He pleaded guilty to burglary with intent to steal and was released on conditional bail to be sentenced at a later date.

Abiodun Kadri, prosecuting, told the court: "Police went to the shop shortly after midnight on 8 August. Officers stood at the bottom of the stairs and shouted for intruders to come down and give themselves up. Bailey was seen at the back of the shop and he gave himself up. He was not seen to take anything."

David Burns, defending Bailey, said: "The defendant is somebody who works full time. He works in a primary school in Stockwell between 8.30am and 3.30pm. He earns £1,000 a month and pays £550 a month in rent." The Stockwell school website describes Bailey as a learning mentor.

The court heard Bailey, of south London, had one previous conviction of criminal damage, dating to 2004.

16 August 2011 Help A mother, whose 14 year-old son pleaded guilty to burglary during the riots last week in Manchester city centre, has told the BBC he has been treated unfairly by the police.

Mother turns her son in due to looting

Speaking to Radio 5 live's Stephen Nolan, she said items the police seized during a search of her home as evidence of looting, had not in fact been stolen and in some cases she had receipts to prove it.

The magistrates' chairman, Melvyn Marks, said Bailey's case would have to go to the crown court for sentencing. "Because of the nature of this offence and because of the circumstances we have taken the view that there are too many aggravating features in which these offences occurred, namely in the middle of a very violent riot, and our powers and punishment are not enough."

PM accused over police riot costs

The offences include burglary, theft and handling, violence and violent disorder offences. She called on the Prime Minister to end his "stony silence" surrounding spending cuts as she met officers and locals at one of many… 01 September 2011 News Related + Magistrates reject riot criticismsIn most cases people are charged with burglary and in some cases aggravated burglary," he said. Eoin McLennan-Murray, president of the Prison Governors Association (PGA), claimed that magistrates had lost all sense of proportion. 29 August 2011 News Related + Riots In Brief: Armani looter jailedHarding, of George Arthur Road in Saltley, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to one count of burglary after he entered the Armani store in the city's Mailbox shopping centre and stole a T-shirt on 8 August. Stephens appeared at… 27 August 2011 News Related + Four men on Facebook riot chargesKarl Manley, 28, of Goldfinch Close, Heysham, Lancashire, and Stefan Johnson, of Greenfield Street, Lancaster, are accused of encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, namely burglary. Warren Calvert, 19, of… 24 August 2011 News Related + Riots in brief: Man accused of furniture store blaze faces court; fifth…He is charged with two counts of arson, violent disorder and two counts of burglary. Gordon Edward Thompson, 33, is accused of setting fire to House of Reeves in his home town of Croydon on 8 August and appeared at Inner… 23 August 2011 News Related + Seventy-year-old man oldest to be arrested over riotsHe is also charged with violent disorder and four counts of burglary - relating to looting at a William Hill bookmaker's, a Tesco Express, a Scotland Yard said the unnamed man, arrested on August 8 in connection with theft… 22 August 2011

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Distinctive' jewels in Madeley burglary

Up to £20,000 worth of "distinctive" jewellery has been taken in a burglary at a home in Shropshire.

The thieves also stole a silver Range Rover from the drive of the house in Coalport Road in Madeley, Telford.

Police said the victim was devastated as some of the jewellery had been in the family for around 100 years.

The items include a diamond and pearl Victorian gold bangle, a diamond tennis bracelet and a 14 carat gold tanzanite and diamond and black opal ring.

A police spokesman said officers would like anyone with information about the theft, which happened on Thursday afternoon, to contact them.

"Police are investigating the matter and want to hear from anyone who may have been offered any of the jewellery for sale," he said. "It is highly likely that whoever stole it will try and sell the property on.

"We also want to hear from anyone who has any knowledge in relation to the whereabouts of the stolen vehicle, which remains outstanding."

Other items taken include, an 18 carat gold three cluster diamond ring, a Gucci bracelet watch and ring and a pair of grape earrings.

Police force may lose 1,030 staff
West Mercia Police could lose more than 1,000 staff by 2015, according to research by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary.

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UK's burglary 'hotspots' revealed

Last week's crackdown in Greater Manchester resulted in 250 arrests
A league table of burglary "hotspots" in England and Wales has revealed a huge disparity between areas at risk.

Manchester topped the list with 35 domestic burglaries per 1,000 homes last year - a total of 7,167 - followed by parts of Nottingham and Reading.

Rural Teesdale in Co Durham had the lowest rate with a total in 2008 of just 14, or 1.2 for every 1,000 homes.

The Tories say some areas have victims in "almost every street" but ministers say burglaries have halved since 1997.

Drug addiction

There has been a 1% increase in house burglaries, the first rise for six years, according to annual crime figures released this month.

Police figures showed there were 284,445 house break-ins in the 2008/9 financial year - which means one victim every two minutes.

TOP 10 BURGLARY HOTSPOTS
Manchester - 35 per 1,000 homes (7,167 total)
Nottingham - 33 per 1,000 homes (4,367 total)
Reading - 30 per 1,000 homes (1,769 total)
Haringey, London - 30 per 1,000 homes (2,870)
Leeds - 28 per 1,000 homes (9,248)
Bradford - 27 per 1,000 homes (5,236 total)
Luton - 27 per 1,000 homes (2,020 total)
Enfield - 26 per 1,000 homes (3,049 total)
Slough - 26 per 1,000 homes (1,207 total)
Bristol - 26 per 1,000 homes (4,706 total)
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling, whose party uncovered the latest league table, said: "This increase in burglaries is a big problem, and it's not just down to the recession.

"The jump in drug taking announced last week is also a big factor - since a large proportion of burglaries result from people trying to get money to feed a drug addiction.

"We desperately need real action to get police away from filling in forms at their desk in police stations and out on to the beat tackling the problem."

But Home Office minister Alan Campbell pointed out that burglary had more than halved in the last 12 years with levels remaining flat despite the recession.

He said: "We are not complacent however and we want to do more, which is why this week we announced £5m from the Safer Homes Fund to protect people in the most vulnerable communities.

"Operation Vigilance allows the police to target more prolific offenders, including burglars, and the Drug Interventions Programme is proving increasingly successful at breaking the link between drug taking and acquisitive crime."

Under the Safer Homes Fund, security is to be beefed up in more than 45,000 homes with the elderly and lowest paid getting new window and door locks.

Last week Greater Manchester Police launched Operation Storm - a crackdown on burglary involving 600 officers.

It resulted in 250 arrests, 150 warrants executed and half a million pounds worth of property recovered.

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Burglaries up 14% - British Crime Survey

The British Crime Survey suggested there were 9.6 million crimes in England and Wales in 2010-11
Burglaries at homes in England and Wales rose by 14% in 2010-11 compared with the previous year, the British Crime Survey (BCS) suggests.

The survey of 45,000 households also indicated overall crime levels were up slightly, though researchers said this was not "statistically significant".

Separate data of crimes recorded by police showed crime fell 4% and domestic burglary was down 4%.

Officials regard the BCS as the most reliable indicator of crime trends.

Recorded crime figures suggested a 10% rise in the number of recorded thefts of unattended mobiles, wallets and purses from pubs, household property from gardens, and metal or industrial equipment.

The total number of crimes recorded by police fell by about 100,000 to 4.2 million over the last year.

In contrast, the BCS figures showed there were about 9.6 million crimes overall in 2010-11, compared with 9.5 million the previous year.

If you're looking for clarity about crime, these figures don't provide it. The two sets of data appear completely at odds.

The BCS estimates that crime in most of the main categories is up - though only the burglary rise is said to be "statistically significant" - whereas almost all offences recorded by police - including burglary - are down.

There's certainly no concrete evidence that the recession is driving crime increases.

But a rise in the police category of "other theft" - which includes thefts of unattended items such as mobile phones and wallets - might be an early sign that people who are feeling the pinch are pinching stuff.

To get a sense of trends in violent crime, it's instructive to look at the figures for homicide (murder, manslaughter, infanticide) which aren't subject to any vagaries in counting methods.

They show that the decade-long downward trend is more or less continuing. The number of attempted murders was at its lowest for many years - an indication that we're not as violent a society as the headlines would have us believe.

Mark Easton on statistical insignificance
A separate survey by Victim Support suggests that just over one in three victims of crime (35%) feels they are kept in the dark after reporting an offence.

The charity's poll of 1,100 victims also found 39% of them felt justice needed to be speeded up so victims could move on with their lives.

Officials advised "caution" over the BCS burglary figures saying the rise to 745,000 followed a record low the previous year of 651,000, and said the current estimate was more in line with those for the previous five years.

They said it would be "premature" to view the figure as evidence of a newly rising trend in domestic burglary.

They also said some commentators had expected to see rises in acquisitive crime due to the recession and greater unemployment but there was no firm evidence for this.

"Despite difficult economic conditions these latest statistics show no consistent evidence of upward pressure across the range of acquisitive crime," the researchers concluded.

But they said both sets of figures indicated that the long-term downward trend in crime since the mid-1990s was "easing".

Other figures from the BCS pointed to a big rise in domestic violence, up 35% in a year.

However, officials said the number of domestic violence victims surveyed was small which meant the figures were "prone to fluctuation".

Chief Constable Jon Murphy, head of crime for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said officers would be seeking to find any emerging patterns of criminality to the rise in burglaries and thefts.

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