Police take a week to respond after car thieves threaten family

A POLICE chief has been asked to explain why his officers took a week to attend an incident in which a terrified family were threatened by violent car thieves.

John Bey, 55, his wife Grace, 59, and their son Jamie, 28, challenged a gang of balaclava clad men when they spotted them removing a catalytic converter from their car outside their home in the village of Chimark near Salisbury.

But the men, who were armed with iron bars, came at the family threatening to burn their house down and forcing them to flee in terror into their home.

They immediately dialled 999 and Wiltshire Police promised to be there within half an hour.

But three hours later the force rang the family to say they had been delayed and would not be able to attend as planned. The following morning an officer rang Mrs Bey to say he would be coming to see them, but never arrived.

They did receive a visit a week later but have not received any follow-up since.

Mrs Bey accused the police of not caring about rural communities.

She said:”the whole village is furious with the police. We were in real danger.

Their parting words were ‘We will be back to burn your house down.’

”They were very aggressive and very violent. But the police could not be bothered. In the countryside we are forgotten about by the police. We need to get bobbies back on the beat.”

Andrew Murrison, the Conservative MP for West Wiltshire and Philip Wilkinson, the local Police and Crime Commissioner, have both now written to Chief Constable Kier Pritchard to demand an explanation as to what happened.

Mr Murrison said:“i have written to the Chief Constable to ask him to give an account of why it was when a serious crime was in progress it did not result in the attendance of a police officer within a recognisable time frame.

Inspector Al Lumley from Wiltshire Police said: “On rare occasions such is the demand on our services that we are forced to make difficult decisions around prioritising our response

“In relation to this incident we have since visited the victim in this case to explain the circumstances and provide reassurance that we are actively working to find those responsible. We continue to keep them updated on the progress of the investigation.

“We have also mounted extra patrols in the Chilmark area to provide further reassurance to the wider community.”

‘They were very violent but the police could not be bothered. In the countryside we are forgotten by the police’