NorthDave

Hi

There was an attempted theft of a scooby last night in South Manchester (within the M60). This is in a nice area and is the first time I have heard of it so close to home (about 1/4 mile from my house!!).

Apparently the guy was locking up and heard somebody coming down the path, opened the door and was confronted by two scumbags in balaclavas armed with a hammer.

Here is an etract of a mail from the Police:

"Police in South Manchester are appealing for witnesses after two masked
men broke into a house in
Chorlton and attacked one of the occupants last night, Wednesday 18th
August 2004.


Shortly before midnight the male occupant of the house on XXXXXXX
spotted some people
walking up the path. As he went to open the door, it burst open and he
saw two men in balaclavas
standing there, one of whom was carrying a hammer.



They demanded the keys to his Subaru Impreza but when the man resisted,
one of the offenders swung
the hammer at his head. The victim raised his hands to defend himself
and was left with a nasty
gash to his arm.



The men ran off along XXXXX and down an alleyway at the back of
one of the houses towards
XXXXXXX.



One of the men described as white, 5ft 6ins tall with a small build. He
had a slim face, spoke
with a local accent and was wearing dark coloured clothes and a hooded
top.


Detective Constable Graham Cowey from Elizabeth Slinger Road CID said:
"Thankfully the victim was
not seriously injured and didn't need any hospital treatment, but his
injuries could have been far
worse.



The offenders came to the house armed with a hammer and showed no
hesitation in using it when it
appeared they might not get what they came for.



In situations such as this, your safety is much more important than
your property, and we would
always urge people to call the police rather than put themselves at
risk in any way.


The offenders didn't manage to get the keys to the victim's Subaru
Impreza, but an area search by
officers and police dogs did recover some property left by the
offenders in a nearby alleyway,
which we will now be examining.



I would urge anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area of XXXXX last night or
believes they saw the offenders making their escape is asked to contact
the CID on 0161 856 6115
or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Scumbags..........So glad the owner is OK.
Cheers
Colin

LiamWR1

What is this country coming to!!!

BKS

that is far too close to my house aswell. I reckon there is a gang going around as i know 3 people in the last 2 weeks who have had their cars knicked in chorlton.

minor_threat

That's horrendous. I'm glad the guy is okay and I hope it doesn't put him off owning a Scooby, although it's too easy to imagine the consequences of his wife or his kids answering the door (if he has wife/kids).

^OPM^

quote "always urge people to call the police rather than put themselves at
risk in any way"

yeh good thinking-then u can sit back and be shot dead while the police take 9 hours to come to you

nuff said......

black knight

dont care what happens, i'm always cautious when parking car anywhere making sure no ones even close. diligence is the best way forward.

but... if those scums even dare come to my place... a hatori hanzo steel is close by and i will not hesitate to use it. better them than us being hammered and they roam free. i'd prefer them being down and me in court.

glad the owner wasnt hurt too badly

^OPM^

at mo just painted garage floor other day so my scooby is having to sit outside-so to be extra careful i have blocked it in on driveway with mondeo-but slightest noise at nite and im looking out window-thankfully(touch wood) i live in a quiet area

billythekid

This is only a couple of miles from me too. There was also the attempt car jack in Tyldsley recently.

I really do think Manchster is becoming quite a hot spot at the moment and people should take steps to up their security and run through a few drills with their famlies.

I have often thought about running some sort of home security service where I would train home owners in such things but I dont think there will be any money in it.

NotoriousREV

How can you be shot dead with a hammer?

Blackscooby

And still nothing changes. I had mine stolen at knife point from a house near Altringham in 1998. I'd only had the car 2 weeks at that point.

A group "flat packed" the front door at 2am and stormed the house demanding keys. Keys handed over and my P&J screamed off.

A few hours later it was found (completely intact!).

Its horrendous to see that this kinda of thing still goes on. I've now moved house and changed cars.

Edited to say that the police were fantastic at the time. Chopper was scrambled and searched the area... it wasn't long at all before I was called to say it was found. By then however it had been used as a getaway vehicle from a crime in Manchester though.

Cold Turkey

"flat packed" ?

Not familiar with this term! Did your front door come from IKea ?

Sorry to make light of this subject! I'm picking mine up this afternoon (car) and I know I'll have trouble sleeping for a while. But I've got house alarms, cctv, baseball bat, disklok, blackjax....what more can you do ???

oztokyo

Christ I should stop reading these reports of theft and assault. Sooner or later I'll chicken out and buy a crap car just for piece of mind.

rich from sheffield

the same thing happend to me in February (on the 4th to be exact, started a new job that day) got back from work at 5ish went to my bedroom got changed (and left car keys there) then went and sat in the lounge to watch tv. i was sitting there for 10mins when the front door opened and a little scrubber with a cap and scarf over his face came into the house. he didnt see me for a min or so and it didnt register with me what he was up to. when he ran i logged on to what he was up to. so i ran after him only for him to jump into a waiting golf!

10 mins later they got a z3 a mile down the road.

45 mins later when CID were taking the details it came through on his radio that a focus 170 had gone from 4 miles away.

it turned out the focus owner was somone i went to school. his car was dumped in wakefield stripped. it was only 2 weeks old.

^OPM^

i was referring to the couple in lincoln that were shot other week- i know that had nought to do with car jacking etc-but i was making point about police response times sometimes leaving things to be desired....

oddjob

Nasty stuff, any idea on the age of the car? Thinking of getting an early wagon and live in Hulme, bit concerned.

NorthDave

I dont know for sure but I would guess at N or P reg, certainly an original shape wagon. Looks like a really nice car too so I guess he is happy it didn't go.

billythekid

If you are going to spend a load of money on your P&J you should make sure you spend a little on your security too, eg CCTV and sunken post on the drive etc.

Hulme is not that bad these days but still plan for the worst...

oddjob

yeah, i've been parking my 96 200sx there for 3 years without any problem, 200 is a bit more anonomous than a scoob, but yeah will get some desent security for it.

bighead

iTrader: (1)

My car is park in Beswick (notoriouse for car crimes in Manchester ) all the time never ever had any trouble .........only admiring glance from the yobbos