Gwent | Archive | 2002 | September | 4
From the South Wales Argus, first published Wednesday 4th Sep 2002.
ABERGAVENNY police are warning elderly people to keep their doors locked after another spate of distraction burglaries in the area. Last week a 96-year-old woman living in a ground floor flat in the Chapel Road area watched in shock as a man walked into her home and grabbed her handbag before running off . Two days later an 82-year-old woman living in Park Crescent was in the garden when someone walked in to her home and stole her handbag. There was a third incident in Station Road, Govilon, when an 81-year-old saw two men in her house and challenged them. They left but she later discovered there was money missing. Abergavenny's crime reduction officer PC Peter Tkaczyk said: "The worst thing is when it dawns on them what has happened, the shock hits them very hard, and it can have devastating effects. "In Usk at the beginning of the year a pensioner who was a victim of a similar incident died within a few weeks. "She was sitting in a chair in her living room when two men walked into her house, picked up her handbag from the floor near where she was sitting and left." Police class the incidents as distraction burglaries. PC Tkaczyk said anyone worried about such incidents happening to them should contact him and arrange for a home visit to discuss their concerns. He said in all the cases, the doors had been closed, but not locked, and the thieves had merely pushed open the door and stolen items from the house. He said they were brazen enough to try and talk their way out of a situation if they were confronted by the resident. Anyone with information contact Abergavenny police on 01873 852273. * On Monday, the Argus reported how bogus callers had been targeting pensioners in Monmouthshire. In separate incidents an elderly woman from Monmouth and one from Caldicot reported men pretending to be water board officials had called on them.
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