A victim of a burglary has criticised the police for not fully investigating the incident despite assembling evidence to help nab the thieves.
Assistant professor at the University of London, Ayesha Siddiqi's home was burgled on 3rd January. Her laptops, two bags and her wallet were among items stolen on the day.
She was able to track the use of her stolen bank cards which was used at her local Londis store in Harlesden. Siddiqi went to the store and spoke to staff members. They showed her CCTV footage of a woman who took out a payment card from a “bright yellow distinctive” purse which Siddiqi recognised as belonging to her. CCTV also captured the registration number of the car driven by the alleged thieves.
Ayesha Siddiqi, 34, handed all the evidence to the police at Wembley Police Station the following day and “felt confident” when the police indicated that the match in registration number was enough to make an arrest. However, she felt let down by the police.
She said, “Sadly, the police response has been most disappointing. We gave them the car registration number the next day but then it took them 10 days to go and collect the CCTV footage. I don't feel that there is any kind of urgency or even serious intent at their end.”
She added, “We took a lot of burden of police work on ourselves. We were doing the leg work for the police so they could take us seriously. I don't feel we got an adequate response. There doesn't seem to be any systematic approach to apprehension. We're talking a hit of a couple of thousand pounds. It doesn't feel that's a concern, for them it wasn't worth pursuing. I feel really let down.”
A spokesperson from Met Police said, “Officers attended the shop and viewed the footage, which appeared to show an unknown suspect handling stolen goods. Enquiries to identify the suspect – and whether they were involved in the original offence – and an associated vehicle are ongoing.”
