DON READ’S CRIME COLUMN – NOVEMBER 2009

I recently received an email from a local resident who had lost an appreciable amount of money by a scam at a local supermarket. Two people had distracted her as she paid for items at the self-service check-out. They dropped a bottle which smashed and in the following clear-up had somehow removed her bank card from her handbag. Oblivious of this fact she went to join her husband at the car wash where one of the culprits offered her a ten pound note they said she had dropped in the store. The ensuing conversation presumably gave them time to access her bank account.
The incident involving the theft of a dog from outside Boots on Central Avenue is something of a mystery. A mother and daughter entered the store having left their dog tied up to the railings on the pavement. On their return from the store the dog had gone missing. It is reported that the dog was recovered. Its late at night in Swansea and a couple of drunks think they will have a bit of a laugh by attacking two cross-dressing men they pass in the street. They make some disparaging remark and one throws a punch at the one in the pink wig, short black dress and suspenders. Turns out the victims were cage fighters (bare knuckle pugilists) en-route to a fancy dress do. They speedily felled their attackers.
One said afterwards: “It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when a chap can’t walk down the street in a mini skirt and make-up without getting grief from some idiot.”
A woman, walking her dog, stopped me on the towpath through Lady Bay recently and said that the day before she had spotted two pairs of jeans a few yards from where we were standing. One pair looked brand new, the other not so new. The mind boggles as to how they got there and the consequences of the situation? Work it out for yourself!
The older we get the more trustworthy we seem to become. That’s because we remember the days when you could leave your doors open for a neighbour to pop in and borrow a cup of sugar. Today it is likely to be two bogus villains professing to be from the water board and wanting to check the flow from your bathroom taps. A Nottingham lady became the victim of such an incident recently and found her savings of £30,000, kept in a suitcase under her bed, was missing. Follow the security tips which can be found on your Two Steps Ahead card and help reduce crime.