Local Thieves Return Broken TV After Realization, Highlighting Quirky Crime of Opportunity
A peculiar incident of attempted theft and subsequent return unfolded in Chippenham, Wiltshire, on the evening of Saturday, 4 April, illustrating the sometimes baffling nature of minor crime. According to a local resident’s account, two women removed a non-functional television from the porch of a home on School Walk, off Hungerdown Lane, only to have it returned hours later by one of the same women, accompanied by a man, after they discovered it was broken.
The sequence of events began around 5 p.m. The homeowner had placed the faulty television outside their front door with the intention of disposing of it responsibly. Within approximately 30 minutes, two women approached the property in broad daylight and took the device without seeking permission. The resident expressed frustration at the initial act, stating, “The cheek of some people… I put an old TV outside my door on the porch because it had stopped working and not even half an hour later, a couple of women walked up in broad daylight and took it.”
A Quick Realization and an Unusual Return
The story took an unexpected turn by 8:30 p.m. the same day. One of the women who had taken the television returned to the address, this time with a male companion. They placed the TV back on the porch. The resident recounted, “A couple of hours later, one of the women came back with a man and returned the TV after they realised it didn’t work.” This act of returning stolen property, especially after testing its functionality, is highly unusual in petty theft cases.
The homeowner’s final remark underscored the absurdity of the situation: “The cheek – if you’re going to nick something, don’t bring it back and complain that it doesn’t work.” This incident blends the common issue of opportunistic “porch piracy” with a rare twist of post-theft buyer’s remorse based on the item’s condition.
Context: Porch Piracy and Waste Crime Trends
While this specific case is lighthearted in its resolution, it touches on two persistent community concerns. The initial taking of items from a porch or doorstep is often classified as “porch piracy” or theft from a dwelling, offenses that police forces across the UK regularly advise the public to report. Wiltshire Police, like many forces, encourages residents to report such incidents, as patterns of opportunistic theft can inform local patrols.
Furthermore, the removal of a discarded item intended for waste or recycling touches on the issue of “waste crime.” Taking items left for collection can sometimes be legal if abandoned, but taking property from private property without consent constitutes theft. The value of the item is irrelevant to the legal definition. In this instance, the thieves’ own assessment of the TV’s broken state prompted their reversal, avoiding what would have been a theft of essentially worthless goods.
This Chippenham event serves as a local anecdote about the unpredictable nature of crime and the importance of securing even unwanted items. It also highlights how quickly some perpetrators may reconsider their actions upon realizing the lack of benefit, though the initial breach of property rights remains the primary concern for residents.
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Image Credit: www.wiltshire999s.co.uk
