Burglars casing Woodwarde and Dovercourt roads

[DovertheRoad]

This evening...unusual car (black BMW) with occupant watching houses from a discrete distance between 5.30pm and 7pm. The last two weeks of August show a spike in break ins. Looks like some more coming up. Have reported to 101.

[emu]

Hmmm interesting, about 7ish I had a young woman ring the doorbell and ask for sponsorship for a walk raising money for cancer research. I politely said no but a few minutes later I looked outside and did notice the black bmw going by slowly and thought she might have been in it.

[lilolil]

Someone knocked here too saying she was promoting a campaign for a local hospital. It was probably about 5.30pm.

Her description : Early 20's, long wavy hair,well manicured fingernails,rather largish in stature. Afro/Caribbean.

May be unrelated as this was Hindmans Road area.

[Delainie]

Could this be connected to 2 men in blk bmw trying car doors posted few days back?

[Take Note]

maybe a pic / vid of the car with number plate to pass onto 101?

[Robert Poste's Child]

DovertheRoad Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> This evening...unusual car (black BMW) with

> occupant watching houses from a discrete distance

> between 5.30pm and 7pm. The last two weeks of

> August show a spike in break ins. Looks like some

> more coming up. Have reported to 101.

There's a dealer pretty near there. They could have been looking for him.

[Mrs Townley]

I also saw a black BMW sitting suspiciously on Townley Road three weeks ago (August 4th). It was around 2pm and the occupant was sitting there for 15-20 minutes. I watched him from my upstairs window and eventually did take a photograph, as he seemed to have no purpose being there. He drove off but looked me in the eye as he did.

Unfortunately, I didn't report it to 101 as I thought I might be paranoid. But now there's been an attempted break-in next door, so I really should have... Good news is I snapped the full number plate. Will report to police now.

[Mrs Townley]

I'm trying to do this, but it's really difficult given the setup of 101's phone and website. Any ideas?

[alex_b]

Have you tried https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/how-to-report-a-crime/? You can just click through all the questions until you get to "report something else" and it then gives you a normal form to fill in and submit.

[Mrs Townley]

Thanks, I did try that, but even the normal form assumes a crime has taken place. Not sure how/where to specify suspicious behavior without an observed crime...

[Mrs Townley]

Spoke to a Met forensics officer who came to my neighbour's house this evening. He confirmed they had tried to enter my garden as well by jumping over the adjoining fence. He said if you see the black BMW again, call 999 instead of 101 as we have clear video footage of the two criminal's faces. I won't reveal the whole plate, but the suspicious person I saw was in a black BMW with registration starting LR12. If you see it in the neighbourhood, please call 999 immediately and say it is a known suspect for recent burglaries. He assured me they will come straight away. Obviously, don't approach them!

[DovertheRoad]

Hi, this was not the same black BMW I noted in the OP. The one I observed was a soft top with plate starting LC18. For reporting 101 is not easy - very often 20-40 mins wait which discourages reporting stuff. But we have direct police contact via our roads residents association. I emailed him directly and they ran a check on the plate and got back to me next day - was impressed.

[cazfay]

Woodwarde Road has a neighbourhood watch group, which alerts residents of things like this via email. Are you on the group? Well worth making the coordinatinator aware as they can let everyone know. It means we all collectively have one place to keep each other informed.

[Mrs Townley]

Does anyone happen to know if Townley Road has a WhatsApp and/or watch group? I'm a relatively new arrival...

[cazfay]

Definitely worth asking your neighbours to see. All the neighbourhood watch groups are fairly well joined, so link up on serious issues. If not, do consider starting one for your road

[mimifantasia87]

lilolil im on hindmans road too and had the same woman knock for me. sounded dodgy and she sounded way to eager for my liking.