Vandals set van alight and smash building windows
POLICE APPEAL AFTER LATEST
A VAN was deliberately set alight and the windows and doors of a nearby building smashed in a vandal attack on the A5, near Hinckley.
It was the latest incident of criminal damage at a property close to the B4114 turn for Wolvey, south of Burbage, which police say has been targeted by vandals.
Detectives have issued a public appeal calling for witnesses and anyone with any other information about the crime, or those responsible, to come forward.
The attack took place on Tuesday, February 23 but details have only now been released.
A police spokesman said it was reported at about 2.45am.
“Officers are appealing for information after arson and criminal damage were reported near Hinckley,” she said.
“A van was set alight and the windows and doors of an outbuilding were smashed, and graffiti sprayed on the walls at a property on the A5 near the junction of the B4114 for Wolvey Heath.”
They added that criminal damage was also reported at the property earlier last month – on Sunday, February 7. On that occasion several vehicles were damaged.
Detective Sergeant Fraser Macintosh said: “We believe this incident may involve someone from the local area and the offender suffered an ankle injury during the incident.
“We would like to speak to anyone who may have any information that could help us identify a motive for this incident.”
He added: “We would also urge anyone with dashcam footage from the area at the time of the incident to please get in touch.”
Anyone with information should get in touch with detectives using the police 101 number, or through the force website.
HORRIFIC experiences as a child growing up led a Coalville man to become a spiritual medium.
At the age of nine, Andrew Hopkins, pictured, remembers being pulled out of bed by a ghost, before that he saw an old lady standing over his bed and a girl playing with a doll outside his bedroom.
Those experiences may have terrified him, but his life since then has involved embracing the spiritual world and seeking out ghosts and apparitions, as well as holding seances and readings to help people contact the dead.
Describing the scariest incident at his family home in Park Road, Coalville, Andrew, 37, said: “Our home in Coalville was very haunted and one of the spirits seemed to delight in feasting off my fears.
“When I was nine, I was in bed and my mum had just got back from the pub.
“Her ex-boyfriend was hammering at the door and it woke me up. I remember lights flickering and then the spirit literally grabbed my ankles and pulled me sideways out of the bed and onto the floor.
“I thought I was going to die as I lay there. It was horrible.
“The whole room felt very cold. There was so much going through my head but I couldn’t scream or shout and every second seemed like an hour.
“It was just very frightening.” The man pulling him out of bed was not Andrew’s first experience of weird apparitions.
He said: “The very first was when I was four and there was a lady standing over me as I woke up.
“She just stared at me. The room was dark, but she was glowing.”
He thinks that may have been a woman who had died in the house some years earlier.
The young girl he saw was also a night-time experience. He said: “I was in my room playing with my toys and I heard giggling and then a hushing sound.
“I wandered out onto the landing and there was a girl leant over a doll. I went to play with her but she ran off into my mum’s room and I couldn’t find her. I went downstairs and told my mum and sister what had happened and they told me not to be so silly – there was no one else in the house.”
Andrew also had experiences of sensing dark shadows moving around his bedroom and every time they passed over a poster with a person on it, the person in the picture seemed to come alive and look around the room.
Another night a loud noise was heard from downstairs and Andrew’s step-father rushed to the kitchen to find all the cupboards open and food pouring out of the fridge, which upset the whole family.
Andrew said: “It caused this real depression in the house.”
For more than a decade now, Andrew has been earning a living carrying out seances and doing Tarot card readings.
His experiences from the first 17 years of his life have not put him off seeking out spirits.
He said: “There are spirits who are angry that they are dead but I don’t think they can actually hurt me.
“I go to a lot of old castles, asylums and other haunted places.
“It does still scare me but it’s part of the fun.” Now Andrew, who lives in the village of Oakthorpe, near Coalville, has written a book about his experiences at the house in Park Road.
■ The book, The Haunting on Park Road, is available on Amazon costing £2.16 for the Kindle version and £9.34 for the hardback copy.
There was a lady standing over me as I woke up. The room was dark, but she was glowing
Andrew