THE ‘AYCLIFFE BLUE’ BLOG!

Newton Aycliffe NPT Sergeant Mark Edwards continues his weekly blog on Aycliffe Today…

Hello all, welcome back!

I recently invited viewers of the NPT’s Facebook page to offer comment on our recently introduced initiative of naming persons charged with specific offences. The results were interesting to say the least – of all our wall postings this proved the most popular!

Whether you agree with this process or not, interest in what this team are doing has sky-rocketed.

All controversy aside, the comments have been fed back to the powers that be and a decision will be made as to whether this idea will continue.

In the meantime, however, I’m going to put a different spin on things and provide a few results of those persons who have appeared at court and been found guilty – you may recognise these names.

Billy Jo Wallis, 34 years, and Anthony Trevor Smith, 50 years, appeared at South Durham Magistrates Court in relation to having been found on enclosed premises at The waste Transfer Site on the Business Park. He was found guilty and fined £42.00 and received a conditional discharge for 12 months.

Geraldine Amanda Wynn, 32 years, appeared at South Durham Magistrates Court in relation to theft from Wilkinsons. She was found guilty and ordered to pay compensation of £127.76 with a community order valid until March 2013.

Rick Hope, 43 years, appeared at South Durham Magistrates Court charged with committing fraud by false representation. He was found guilty and made subject to a community order and ordered to pay compensation to the value of £440.00 with court costs of £85.00 also.

Michael Joseph Dunn, appeared at South Durham Magistrates Court charged with theft and fraud by false representation. He was found guilty and received a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £200 compensation with fines of £25 and £15 costs.

This will become a regular feature and further results will be released after charge.

I made reference in my last blog to the theft of a catalytic converter from a Mercedes Sprinter van in a compound on the Business Park. The team are currently working with local businesses in relation to this recent rise in thefts of this nature and are looking at various crime prevention measures that we can put in place. I make the same offer to any owners of such vehicles who may not be part of the Business watch scheme to contact either myself or PCSO Richard Scott on the team.

We have also received several reports of persons of Eastern European descent stealing clothing from Tesco and, to date, several arrests have been made. In fact, as I write this blog we currently have two males in custody at Bishop Auckland who were arrested shortly after Police received similar reports from Tesco. Our Serious Crime Team are working their magic with them at this time and I will update you accordingly. I would also like to point out that these crimes may at face value seem petty in nature however they are far from it. Crimes of this nature are organised and have been observed to have been committed nationwide. Those persons responsible can make quite a significant profit from sending these stolen items overseas. I would urge anyone witnessing anyone acting suspiciously in and around the area of clothing recycling bins to contact Police.

Finally, I have a witness appeal to make on behalf of one of our Response Officers working here at Aycliffe.  At around 2.10pm on Thursday 18th April, a dark blue Raleigh Mountain Bike was stolen from outside of Boyes in Beverage Way, Newton Aycliffe. The bike had been left unlocked and unattended outside the store while the owner went inside. The owner was in the store for around 10 minutes and on leaving the bike had been taken. The investigating Officer is Pc 2563 Paul Elliott and can be contacted here at Newton Aycliffe.

A lot to digest here so will sign off for this week.

Be good!

Mark J Edwards

Aycliffe NPT Sergeant
Mark J. Edwards
Newton Aycliffe NPT Sergeant

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