Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Garden centre offers reward after theft

A Bentley (Suffolk) garden centre owner today offered a £1,000 reward after plant pilferers pinched trees and shrubs worth £4,000. Richard Pooley believes his stock was stolen to order and is destined for use on landscaping projects. Mr Pooley estimates the thieves got away with 200-300 containers as well as a £1,000 trailer during an overnight raid on his premises in Bergholt Road. The culprits cut through an outer fence at Bentley Plant Centre before going through a hedge and over a 3ft drainage ditch. They then got over an inside fence. Mr Pooley believes three to four people must have taken part in the burglary due to the volume of stock stolen. To make matters worse he said the trees and shrubs were not insured because of the high cost of the premiums. However, the trailer was insured. Mr Pooley said he thinks the thieves loaded their haul on the trailer and escaped by trampling down a fence they cut down. Among the plants taken were Acers, olive trees, pyramid box trees, bay trees, cordylines and tree ferns. The break-in has left Mr Pooley exasperated as he said it is not the first time thieves have burgled the plant centre. The last time was around a year ago. Mr Pooley said: “There are footmarks everywhere. I am absolutely gutted. We have been done several times before. I would just like the trees and shrubs recovered or to know who did this. I think they have been stolen to order. The thieves didn't touch the stuff that was in flower. I am offering a £1,000 reward to try and catch whoever did this and recover any of the plants.”
The break-in occurred between last Friday night and early Saturday morning. The reward Mr Pooley is offering is for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the thieves. Richard Jones, a spokesman for Suffolk Constabulary said the theft was reported at 8.15am on Saturday. Anyone who can help track down the culprits should telephone Pc John Hardmeier at Capel St Mary police station on 01473 613500 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

(Reproduced from Ipswich Evening Star, 10th June)

GARDIEN TIP: The trailer should have been Property Marked and clearly shown to be so - the perimeter of the property also needs strengthening and probably supplementing with infra-rad beam devices to warn of intruders. Forensic DNA grease can be applied to the more expensive stock items, see http://www.garden-security.co.uk/selectaDNA-grease.aspx

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