I found a carrier bag of phones in shrubbery in Wilmington Square gardens, inside the bag they were wrapped in tin foil. I only found them because I heard one ringing. I took them to Islington Police Station. They DID seem interested and took details from me and told me I had done my good deed for the day. After reading your article I rather wish I’d gone through the bag to try to reunite the phones with their owners. There were about 10 of them.
Had no idea Phoenix Garden existed, nevermind its seedy secondary function of hiding stolen goods. Fascinating! I do learn much more about my city from London Centric!
Jim you are smashing it. My son was victim of a phone robbery at a tube station (phone snatched just as he went to get on late night train, phone tossed to someone inside as doors closed, son left on platform with thief who he went to challenge before having gun pointed at him). Police did take it seriously for that reason but described it as an epidemic. I subscribed for the snails, this has reaffirmed my support! As for the trowel idea - genius.
Great reporting! I had no idea that Phoenix Gardens even existed, or that it was being used for nefarious hide and seek. Such a shame that the Met don't seem to realise that coming down hard on so called "low level" crime would make such a difference to the quality of life in London.
I think I can DEFINITELY find a spare trowel for the person who brought in the story. Thank you so much! Send your postal address to jim@londoncentric.media and I’ll get journalism’s most exclusive piece of merchandise on its way to you.
I love everything about this main story. Well, everything but, again, a British institution that is very fast to jump against anyone who criticises them but very slow to accept any of their shortcomings or talk about how to improve them.
A friend had his phone stole in Brooklyn - I was pleasantly surpised - nay as a Britt, amazed, to hear the police response - the cop was excited to hear that the stolen phone had a tracker app, and gave my friend his telephone number, told him to call when his phone was on & could be tracked. This he did & led them both to the thief.
A seccond case was Canadian cops doing a city wide sting on bike thefts - they put many trackers in bikes, waited for them to be stolen, then over several weeks worked out the network of resale etc and then busted them all.
British cops - it's too difficult, here's a crime number for the insurance company.
I found a carrier bag of phones in shrubbery in Wilmington Square gardens, inside the bag they were wrapped in tin foil. I only found them because I heard one ringing. I took them to Islington Police Station. They DID seem interested and took details from me and told me I had done my good deed for the day. After reading your article I rather wish I’d gone through the bag to try to reunite the phones with their owners. There were about 10 of them.
huh, I thought the point of the tin foil was to stop the signal, but if one was ringing I guess it's not foolproof. Not wrapped very well perhaps
Tin foil isn’t enough to jam a signal.
May have been an alarm 🤷🏻♀️ or inexpertly wrapped
“Never stop digging” - love it!
Had no idea Phoenix Garden existed, nevermind its seedy secondary function of hiding stolen goods. Fascinating! I do learn much more about my city from London Centric!
Jim you are smashing it. My son was victim of a phone robbery at a tube station (phone snatched just as he went to get on late night train, phone tossed to someone inside as doors closed, son left on platform with thief who he went to challenge before having gun pointed at him). Police did take it seriously for that reason but described it as an epidemic. I subscribed for the snails, this has reaffirmed my support! As for the trowel idea - genius.
Great reporting! I had no idea that Phoenix Gardens even existed, or that it was being used for nefarious hide and seek. Such a shame that the Met don't seem to realise that coming down hard on so called "low level" crime would make such a difference to the quality of life in London.
Such terrific reporting!
Your stories seem to garner attention, LC team - let’s hope the Met are reading!
I’ve just bought a subscription and I was the original commenter who mentioned the phones in the park so do I get a trowel? (Please?)
I think I can DEFINITELY find a spare trowel for the person who brought in the story. Thank you so much! Send your postal address to jim@londoncentric.media and I’ll get journalism’s most exclusive piece of merchandise on its way to you.
I love everything about this main story. Well, everything but, again, a British institution that is very fast to jump against anyone who criticises them but very slow to accept any of their shortcomings or talk about how to improve them.
Great report
Sadly phones aren't the only thing buried in flowerbeds. Knives in Finsbury Park. Fantastic reporting, keep it up (I'd love a trowel 😎👨🏻🌾)
Trowel me up.
A friend had his phone stole in Brooklyn - I was pleasantly surpised - nay as a Britt, amazed, to hear the police response - the cop was excited to hear that the stolen phone had a tracker app, and gave my friend his telephone number, told him to call when his phone was on & could be tracked. This he did & led them both to the thief.
A seccond case was Canadian cops doing a city wide sting on bike thefts - they put many trackers in bikes, waited for them to be stolen, then over several weeks worked out the network of resale etc and then busted them all.
British cops - it's too difficult, here's a crime number for the insurance company.
“Do not offend the Trowel of Truth. It is both wise and terrible."
Dear boy, are you by chance familiar with the works of Spider Jerusalem?
Oh gosh I need to re read Transmetroplitan.
Top notch reporting! Paid sub activated! (For reporting quality but also The Trowel ❤️)
what an absolutely wild story! shouldn’t be surprised with your track record but i l love the detective work
Madness the police don’t take this seriously. Such an easy win when it’s so brazen.