A Robbery as Kenilworth Shops targeted in New Year
It has not been a Happy New Year for Kenilworth shops as two major retail chains have been targeted in the past 10 days. A robbery took place very close to our Neighbourhood Watch area, at the Tesco Express store, Leyes Lane. At around 9.30pm on Thursday 8 January 2015 three white males entered the shop wearing balaclavas and hooded tops. They left with a what police described as ‘a significant amount of cash and cigarettes’. They made off in a turquoise mini and anyone that may have seen anything are asked to contact Warwickshire Police on 101 quoting Incident 331 of January 8th 2015.
The robbery took place only 3 days after a burglary at Sainsbury’s, Warwick Road, Kenilworth. Police were called to the store in the early hours of Monday 5th January 2015 as two men armed with crowbars and a holdall forced their way into the store and broke into five self service tills. They were described as wearing grey tracksuits and caps. One of the men was tall and slight, whilst the other was of a larger build. They made off on foot after it appears they were disturbed. Anyone that may have seen anything are asked to contact Warwickshire Police on 101 quoting Incident 21 of January 5th 2015.
Keep up to date with what’s going on in your neighbourhood
There are now a number of ways you can keep right up to date with what is going on in your neighbourhood and Kenilworth. We have worked hard at Crown Watch to make it as easy as possible by giving you as many channels of communication to enable you to make a choice as to the best one for you. For the past couple of years we have moved away from Newsletters as the main means of communication. Newsletters take a considerable amount of time to design and write, they are not a quick way to get information out and they also cost money to produce. From time to time we will still produce a general newsletter, like this one, to ensure we keep in contact particularly with those residents that don’t use or have access to the newer channels of communication.
You can now access Crown Watch on the web at; http://www.kenilworthnwatch.wordpress.com
You can keep up to date with Crown Watch on Twitter at @kenilworthwatch
How to sign up for automatic & immediate email alerts
There are now over 200 people using Crown Watch’s automatic email system. It’s a great way to keep up to date with the very latest information. Here’s how it works for you. As soon as Crown Watch are passed a Crime Alert from Warwickshire Police we post it on our website. As soon as the post goes live on our website it automatically sends an email to those who have entered their email into the “Get Alert – Stay Alert” request box. It’s to the right of this panel). There is NO charge for the service and your email details are NOT passed to anyone else or any other organisation.
Crime that affects us is not just burglaries these days.
As the last few weeks of 2014 drew to a close so things became hectic for some as they prepared to celebrate Christmas and New Year. It’s at these very ‘busy’ periods that people don’t seem to have as much time to stop and take stock of what maybe happening around them, or in the worst cases to them! There have been a significant number ‘Courier Scam” incidents, predominantly in the Stratford upon Avon area, in the run up to Christmas. Usually a caller on the telephone, pretending to be from the Metropolitan Police, has told the victim that they have someone in custody who has cloned and is using their bank card. They then ask the householder to contact their bank but, often unbeknown to the householder, remain on the line. You are advised that putting the receiver down at your end does not cancel the call, so if you then pick it back up to make that call to the bank the previous caller will still be there but make out that they are now your bank and convince you to provide your bank details. To complete the scam they then send a courier to collect your bank card. Once they have collected it they then use it to withdraw money from your account with the details you provided over the telephone. Fortunately the majority of victims have released this is a scam and have not handed any details over but it’s very easy to be fooled or confused by such calls.
Crown Watch advises some simple things to remember;
• NEVER provide Bank Details (Account Number & Sort Code) via Telephone or at the door.
• NEVER divulge personal information (Name & Date of Birth) about yourself to callers by telephone or at the door.
• ALWAYS make sure you have the dialling tone before dialling a phone number and if in doubt. Get a neighbour or your Neighbourhood Watch Co-Ordinator to help.
Please remember police officers, and banks will never ask for account details or PINs over the phone. They also would not come around to your house to collect your cards or property. DO NOT give any of your details to strangers.
Courier Scam Arrest Made
A 16yr old boy from Birmingham was arrested on Tuesday (6th January) and on Wednesday (7th January) charged with fraud in connection with an incident in Stratford on Monday 22nd December, in which an elderly lady was a victim of a “Courier scam, and handed over her bank details. She then gave her bank card to a courier, and the defendant used her card at a cash machine in Birmingham to obtain £400 from her account. The defendant has been released on conditional bail and is due to appear at Leamington Youth Court on Tuesday 27th January 2015.
How to contact Warwickshire Police’s Safer Neighbourhood Team for Kenilworth
You can call them on 01926 684404
You can email them at; kenilworth.snt@warwickshire.police.uk
You can see and speak to them at Abbey End Market every Thursday between 10.30am and 11.30am
And finally…
That Crown Watch using it’s Twitter account @kenilworthwatch tweeted and kept people informed throughout the recent power cut on the evening of Sunday 28 December. Western Power interacted with us and this helped us keep people up to date as to when power was likely to be restored. Follow us on Twitter now.
Kenilworth Watch 