stephanieod15

For the past fortnight, each morning when walking my dog at about 6:30am around the block which covers Underhill Road, Langton Rise along Camberwell Old Cemetery and then onto Woodvale I've noticed a man who drives a bashed up white transit van (54 number plates) that he parks on Langton Rise and then starts walking up onto Underhill Road with an empty shopping trolley and rucksack. Anybody else noticed him, or have any idea what he is up too? It struck me as odd the first time I saw him - but then to see him every successive morning since, just seems bizarre. He looks quite young, olive skin and usually wears a sports zip up top and jeans.

I live on the corner of Wood Vale and came back from work yesterday to find somebody had tried to pull open my bedroom window with some force to try to get into my flat. Luckily, it appears they were disturbed, or gave up trying as they didn't actually get in thankfully. This happened on quite a busy road, the 363 bus regularly passing as well as both car and foot traffic. Also, there were builders working on the property opposite mine who didn't notice or hear anything. Put up a post to act as a warning to the neighbourhood and try to prevent this happening to anybody else.

Dear Phil, I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my thread. Whilst your manager did indeed phone me on Sunday, he did not point me in the direction of The Actress as you've stated. We called The Actress retracing our steps as soon as we noticed the handbag was taken and it was us that informed him we were aware they had taken other items prior to ours. A case of cross wires perhaps? I do understand however the limited action you can take against these idiots and that is the responsibility of the Police to investigate further and that indeed at times your staff are busy. Yesterday, we were just hoping for some more information to see when and how the bag was taken to make our case as accurate as possible pending insurance claims etc. My previous thread was only tainted slightly/biased, as it seems a waste to arrange a time and day to review the CCTV footage in person yesterday evening, assuring it would be ready for viewing regardless of how little could or could not be seen and then not following through with that offer or prioritising it as arranged..... Hopefully all these posts achieve is the possibility of ending these thieves operating not only in your bar but the general area too and raises the areas both the bar, myself and other customers can take as cautionary action to stop them operating successfully. With their pictures out there now hopefully security staff, bar staff and customers can spot them before they ruin someone elses weekend. Stay safe all on EDF!

StraferJack: In agreement with you, apologies if it came across any other way! Many thanks for your reponses. It could have been worse, I know - but was just shocked how lightly these crimes seem to be treated, especially when it was a number of thefts by the same people, in the same area, on the same night. Just hope they don't get away with anybody elses belongings.

I really put this thread up to hopefully get in contact with other victims who had their bags/belongings swiped on Saturday night and more so to warn others in the area to be more cautious. This theft by these absolute plebs has really had an impact on us. Not only now does my sister have to pay out for an Iphone, replace all cards, make-up etc (not counting irreplaceable personal items) but it's also been really draining on chasing up both the police and pubs for help and information. The Bishop have been useless in all honesty. No help on the actual night, even though they were aware of the spate of crimes happening, and no help now with their unsympathetic stance and useless CCTV camera footage. Seriously, if it's that bad change it. If these sorts of crimes are happening in that pub regularly, perhaps put up signs to make people aware of thieves operating in the area and to warn people to be more vigilant. After going down to The Bishop on Sunday afternoon and speaking to the manager who initially tried to fob us off by saying the CCTV footage was so bad and when we asked to see it for ourselves then telling us how difficult it was to pin point a specific time period (!), We arranged to go back yesterday evening at a confirmed time with him so he could have the footage ready for viewing. Show up and he didn?t have the CCTV footage ready as promised, said it wasn?t worth watching it as it would be a blur and you couldn?t make anything out anyway and if we did want to wait it would take him about 30 mins to get it ready (at least) so basically what he told us on Sunday when we went in. Obviously, he just didn't want to take the time to show this and probably didn't think we would show up at all. Why he even bothered to lie and say to come back in is beyond me when this crime obviously didn't even register with him as anything of significance. Apologies for the moan above. The Actress has pictures of these thieves. These weren't put in Twitter as originally thought. The Bishop only has (useless) CCTV placed at the back of the bar. The manager informed us there is none on the front door and no, it didn't register with the security chap to warn people on Saturday to be careful or look out for a man/woman exiting swiftly or walking around the bar suspiciously seemingly. ianr, DJKillaQueen, Jimi Henrdrix07, stacey-lyn, mima08, KestonKid , StraferJack - thanks for all your posts and advice. UncleBen - I hope if something like this happens to you, you get an equally unsympathetic response as the one you posted directed to me. I know we don't stand a chance in getting back my sisters things - but why should these people get away with it? It takes the police days to take any action, they haven't even visited the pubs since this happened on Saturday. Now she has to cough up ?100's to replace items some scummo will just discard. It's disgusting! Sadly, I'm sure we'll see another instance like this again. Keep your eyes peeled and I really hope this won't happen to anyone else.

mima08, keane and KylaKevin. Thanks so much for both your responses and kind messages. I was hoping this post would receive more responses from the actual victims who had their handbags snatched on Saturday night. It is worrying to hear this type of theft seems to be more prevalent than originally thought in our area. An update for anyone who may have been affected on Saturday. The Bishop has dreadful CCTV footage and honestly, have not been too helpful at all. We visited the EDT whose staff were extremely sympathetic. They were even willing to go through their CCTV footage to hopefully catch these morons. A ladies rucksack was taken from there on Saturday night. Apparently, a Barbour jacket was taken from within The Bishop last week, reported and again, no action was taken by the staff. Also, directed at The Bishop security door staff (the one chap specifically who was no help whatsoever), as you were pre-warned of this spate of thefts occurring as The Bishop was the last hit - perhaps taking action towards people who enter the bar quickly and leave in a rush or are suspiciously walking around tables etc, or, as the bar wasn't busy taking the time to warn people to be more vigilant would be a better stance than doing absolutely nothing....?? Also, perhaps as this seems to happen regularly in The Bishop, maybe improving your CCTV instead of simply telling people it is too dark to make anything out would be helpful? The Actress, can't say thanks to Neil the manager enough. Really helpful guy (much appreciated by us!) who took pictures of this gruesome twosome and has put them on The Actress Twitter account, to both hopefully identify them and warn others of their pathetic appearance! A blonde girl with a topknot hairdo and a bald guy with a sports jacket and star t-shirt. To everyone else, thanks for your opinions and advice. Hopefully my thread can go some way into ensuring this upsetting crime doesn't happen to anyone else. It's not only horrid having personal things stolen that are irreplaceable and of no value to these thieves - but also having to replace things like an Iphone, keys and cards which is going to be really expensive. I really hope this awful twosome get their comeuppance!

Last night at The Bishop, my sister's handbag was taken from the back of her chair while we were sat at a table towards the back of the pub at about 11pm. The table was never left unattended by our group of three and we seem to have noticed it missing almost immediately. After reporting it to the bar staff and calling The Actress, where we were drinking earlier on to retrace our steps, it appears this was one of many thefts last night. Handbag thefts were reported in The Bishop, The Actress and EDT. We were told by The Actress it was a couple working together, a woman in a leopard print dress and a man both in their late 30's/early 40's. One of the tactics used as a decoy meant the man pretended to trip over in front of a table and while the people on the table got up to help him, the woman then swooped in a stole the handbags. However, this was not the case with us. The Bishop staff checked the CCTV footage - but told us as it was so dark they found it impossible to distinguish anything but shady figures which was really disappointing as the camera was pointed in our area. It seems a bit pointless to take such precautions if they prove to be useless when required. I'm not aware if there were any cameras on the front door entrance at The Bishop which is manned by security staff - but we weren't told these had been checked as somebody walking out with the handbag (which was bright vivid green would be pretty noticeable). Two or three tables around us were filled but nobody spotted anyone suspicious or anyone in the act when we asked. We are waiting to hear back from The Bishop with more updates but up to this point, they haven't been much help........... It was a really upsetting night and I'm writing this not only to vent my anger towards these thieving scumbags - but to warn others to be extra vigilant. If anyone does see a Marks and Spencer vivid green satchel style handbag with a gold clip detail discarded, please contact me as this was a recent birthday present from my Mum to my sister and it would mean a lot to get it back. We've already contacted the police and reported the theft as her bag also contained her IPhone 4S - which is now thankfully useless to the thieves as it is all locked - and her wallet and a makeup bag. If you live around the area, please keep an eye out for any of the above mentioned items, as getting them back would be great, if not take this posting as a warning.