Burglary victim told to solve case himself

POLICE told a burglary victim to go door to door himself to solve a theft from his local community hall.

Julian Lory, 29, had £8,000 of tools stolen from the community hall in Tipton St John, Devon, while he was fixing a roof.

However, after seeking help from the police, Mr Lory, a father of four, was given a crime reference number and told to “go door to door” to see if he could “generate a line of inquiry”.

John Harding, a hall trustee, said he could not remember the last time he saw a policeman in the village.

“We’ve got invisible policing,” he said. “They don’t seem to do anything.”

Mr Lory said it had taken him 10 years to build up his tool collection and he was disappointed by the police reaction. “They could at least send someone out to reassure you, but there’s been nothing,” he said.

A police spokesman said that the force worked to national guidelines and that because there was no CCTV or witnesses and the victim was not vulnerable, the crime “did not meet the threshold” for an officer to investigate.

He added: “We would recommend the victim speaks to people in the area to see if there is CCTV or any further evidence. We would reassess from this point onwards and, if necessary, assign an officer [to make] further inquiries.”