Terrified: Matthew Sims, Sarah Barham and their children were forced to hide in an upstairs bedroom while eight masked raiders searched their home
Posted on 04/29/2008 2:16:19 AM PDT by Stoat
Cowering upstairs with his partner and their two children as a gang of burglars wielding an axe emptied his living room, Mathew Sims wasted no time in calling 999.
But instead of the immediate response he expected, the police told him: "We're too busy to help."
Within minutes, the burglars drove off with a haul of stolen property.
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Terrified: Matthew Sims, Sarah Barham and their children were forced to hide in an upstairs bedroom while eight masked raiders searched their home
Officers only turned up at the family's home three hours later. By then all they could do was take statements.
The burglary happened shortly after 11pm last Tuesday.
Mr Sims, 24, heard his dog barking then noticed the kitchen light flicker on downstairs.
He pushed open the door and was confronted by eight intruders, wearing balaclavas. One had an axe.
He slammed the door shut - and was hit by flying glass as one raider swung the weapon at him, smashing the pane.
Mr Sims ran upstairs to Sarah Barham and their children Lewis, six, and Macey, five. They barricaded themselves in a bedroom and held the door shut.
"Thankfully, the men didn't come upstairs, but I was worried about my children's safety," said Mr Sims.
"The minute we knew these people were in the house we rang the police, but they said it would be at least half an hour before they could come out."
The burglars' haul included a PlayStation 3, a sat-nav device, a wireless internet router, mobile phones and 24- year- old Miss Barham's bag, keys and bank cards.
Mr Sims, who lives in Arnold, near Nottingham, added: "Nobody from the police had turned up half an hour later, and when we rang again they said there was no one they could send.
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Target: The family home in Arnold, Nottinghamshire
"They said officers around the area were looking for the cars we had described and anyone suspicious, but we didn't see one police car come past.
"Then we had a call to say no one could come out to see us that night and we should get our heads down and someone would be there in the morning.
"We were kicking up a fuss, asking why no one could come when we had had people in our house. I ended up putting the phone down in frustration."
At 2.30am, officers arrived at the house to take statements.
Yesterday, Chief Inspector Andy Burton of Nottinghamshire Police said in a statement: "On this occasion the way control-room staff dealt with this incident fell way short of the standard I expect.
"The force has apologised to the family by way of letter and I personally have contacted the family this morning.
"An investigation is being carried to find out why there was not an immediate response and any findings will be shared with the family."
Mr Sims, 24, who lives only a mile from a police station, said: "I told the police I could have had my head cut off. But still no one came.
"We need to feel safe in our home. We couldn't sleep afterwards. It took a couple of days to feel okay."
Miss Barham said: "They should have responded and made us a priority, not turned up three hours later.
"I'm scared to go to the shops on my own now. I keep thinking what would have happened if Mat hadn't been here."
Nottingham was recently named Britain's burglary capital.
House burglary levels in the city are 63 per cent above the national average, according to a league table which is compiled from insurance records of areas where a homeowner is most likely to experience a break-in.
BAD, BAD, BAD when will the people of the UK return to their freedom?
Well of course. The criminals can rob with impunity, knowing that the cops won't show up for at least three hours.
I sure hope the Cops bring plenty of chalk and some bodybags with them.
Move to the US where you (for the time being) still have the right to defend yourself. Buy a gun and learn how to use it.
He was busy chasing some other hood through a forest.
Like the story in America. on the first call the police were busy and couldn’t respond to the burglary.
Second call, he told the police there was a gunfight going on and a policeman was shot, six police cars showed up in minutes and collared the burglars.
The cops told the victim he lied to them, the victim responded to the police , “you told me you guys were busy”.
Not in Chicago.
Many law enforcement professionals in the US are former military personnel. Where do the UK's cops come from?
One important reason to be armed, is to be able to take care of business when you are too unimportant to merit police response
Why not enact another law requiring criminals take a break after someone dials 911?. That would insure the police would have enough time to respond. I am sure the criminals wouldn’t mind waiting. ;0)
Sadly, our British Friends are already working on a knife ban.
Let’s cut to the chase blades must be banned
Stabbings are increasing (A precursor to knife bans in Britain)
Terror weapons (knives) taken off Coventry's streets (banning knives)
SHARP, POINTY OBJECT CONTROL-(sharp, point-headed reader alert!-no guns, no knives, no defense!)
A Brit houseguest recently told me that her father had been stopped by a policeman because he had been working on his car and had a wrench sticking out of a pants pocket; the officer had a concern that he was carrying a 'weapon'. This is a man of 72, hardly gangsta material.
From this proud Yank's view, it's all rather surreal.
Do you see the BNP as having any sort of a real chance? It seems that the Euro press has done their usual smear job of sliming them as 'racists'.
The British National Party News The Truth About the BNP!
No, we have never claimed any such thing. We simply believe that the different races are different, just as men and women are different, and as such they cannot be directly compared.
iv. If you believe that the races are different then you are racists.
Not at all. The definition of a racist is someone who hates people of other races. We do not hate anybody. Anyone who says the BNP is racist is either misinformed or a liar.
Perhaps we could kick the commies out of Berkeley and give the city to them? :-)
Or, a stylish hut or lean-to could be constructed (at taxpayer expense, of course) at appropriate locations for families to walk to when a burglary is imminent:
(sound of doorbell)
LADY OF THE HOUSE: Good evening!
BURGLAR / THUG / CRETIN: Evening ma'am. Please be advised that it is the express intention of myself and my associates to burglarize your home. Fair warning is hereby given, and we shall commence our activities in two minutes' time. We trust that all persons will remove themselves from the dwelling immediately.
LADY OF THE HOUSE: Why yes of course! We appreciate your gracious warning and will leave at once. Nice hat! It matches your boots quite well!
In some local areas they will do well and possibly better than they've ever done before, plus get two seats on the London assembly but no major breakthrough in the next two years, but then again who knows? people are pretty angry out there now.
It's sad that we ever managed to get to this point in the first place though!
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