Glock-A-Roo
Member
- Joined
- May 1, 2003
- Messages
- 57
How can this be? I thought Britain was now a Utopia since the banning of guns, knives,.... and fox hunting.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1518967,00.html
March 10, 2005
RAF veteran is found hanged after burglars ruined his world
By Simon de Bruxelles
Despairing elderly victim killed himself after being raided by thieves for the third time
A FRAIL RAF veteran was driven to suicide after his home was burgled for the third time.
Herbert Buckland, 84, was afraid to leave his house or even open his front door after being robbed by doorstep conmen twice last year.
When he came face-to-face with burglars for the third time, Mr Buckland apparently decided that enough was enough. He told relatives that the world was no longer a place he wanted to live in. Three days later he was found hanged in the bungalow that he shared with his wife, Barbara, in Wroughton, near Swindon, Wiltshire.
His granddaughter, who did not want to give her name, said yesterday: “He no longer felt safe in his home and was too proud a man to move out. After the last burglary, he became anxious and worried.
“Even when they thought they were safe by not answering the door and keeping the windows and doors locked, these scumbags still managed to get into their home. If it wasn’t for them, my Grandad would be alive today.â€
The Bucklands’ bungalow was targeted by “distraction†thieves twice last year. On the first occasion, a man claiming to be from a water company kept the elderly couple talking in the bathroom while another man entered the house.
A few months later, a man knocked on the door, claiming that children had been interfering with roadworks outside. While the man kept the couple occupied, an accomplice walked in and stole cash.
The couple stopped answering their front door and kept all their doors and windows locked. On February 24, a burglar forced a locked, double-glazed bedroom window. Mr Buckland, a former engineer who was watching television with his wife, confronted the thief. He ran off after stealing some cash.
Mr Buckland hanged himself while his wife was watching television. She was unaware of what had happened until a carer visited later in the day and found his body.
Marilyn Dowson, 55, his niece, said yesterday: “They thought they had done everything to protect themselves from burglars, but when it happened again he was absolutely petrified. These burglars have no conscience at all they don’t worry about what happens to old people. Scum is too nice a word for them.â€
Detective Sergeant Don Stirton, of Swindon CID, said: “Distraction burglaries cause untold misery to the elderly and vulnerable members of our communities. This type of crime is regarded as serious and we recognise that it causes enormous psychological distress to the victims.â€
Norman Brennan, of the Victims of Crime Trust, said that the Government, as well as judges and magistrates, should take partial responsibility for the death. He said: “What does it say about the criminal justice system when someone who has been a law-abiding member of the public all his life, in his twilight years is burgled so many times that he’s taken the option to kill himself rather than carry on? What does it take to wake this Government up? “Burglary is devastating and I challenge anyone in the Government to put forward any excuse as to why burglars should not be severely punished, because this surely indicates the worst that can happen to someone who is victimised.â€
A spokesman for Help the Aged said: “Something like a burglary can really knock confidence in terms of how the elderly feel about themselves and their environment.
“It can affect their ability to socialise, it can make people frightened to leave the house, it can affect the way they interact with their environment, which can have knock-on effects for their health.â€
He added that older people sometimes had a disproportionate sense of how likely they were to be victims of crime. “I think it’s important that people aren’t unduly worried,†he said.
“Older people are much less likely to be victims of crime than young men so you need to be very careful about how you approach the subject.†The charity urges old people to put door chains on before opening the door to callers, as well as ensuring they have identification.
Paul Fawcett, of Victim Support, said: “The reality is that crime disproportionately affects some people and some people just live with an ongoing nightmare,†he said.“It can haunt somebody from one month or week to the next.â€
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1518967,00.html
March 10, 2005
RAF veteran is found hanged after burglars ruined his world
By Simon de Bruxelles
Despairing elderly victim killed himself after being raided by thieves for the third time
A FRAIL RAF veteran was driven to suicide after his home was burgled for the third time.
Herbert Buckland, 84, was afraid to leave his house or even open his front door after being robbed by doorstep conmen twice last year.
When he came face-to-face with burglars for the third time, Mr Buckland apparently decided that enough was enough. He told relatives that the world was no longer a place he wanted to live in. Three days later he was found hanged in the bungalow that he shared with his wife, Barbara, in Wroughton, near Swindon, Wiltshire.
His granddaughter, who did not want to give her name, said yesterday: “He no longer felt safe in his home and was too proud a man to move out. After the last burglary, he became anxious and worried.
“Even when they thought they were safe by not answering the door and keeping the windows and doors locked, these scumbags still managed to get into their home. If it wasn’t for them, my Grandad would be alive today.â€
The Bucklands’ bungalow was targeted by “distraction†thieves twice last year. On the first occasion, a man claiming to be from a water company kept the elderly couple talking in the bathroom while another man entered the house.
A few months later, a man knocked on the door, claiming that children had been interfering with roadworks outside. While the man kept the couple occupied, an accomplice walked in and stole cash.
The couple stopped answering their front door and kept all their doors and windows locked. On February 24, a burglar forced a locked, double-glazed bedroom window. Mr Buckland, a former engineer who was watching television with his wife, confronted the thief. He ran off after stealing some cash.
Mr Buckland hanged himself while his wife was watching television. She was unaware of what had happened until a carer visited later in the day and found his body.
Marilyn Dowson, 55, his niece, said yesterday: “They thought they had done everything to protect themselves from burglars, but when it happened again he was absolutely petrified. These burglars have no conscience at all they don’t worry about what happens to old people. Scum is too nice a word for them.â€
Detective Sergeant Don Stirton, of Swindon CID, said: “Distraction burglaries cause untold misery to the elderly and vulnerable members of our communities. This type of crime is regarded as serious and we recognise that it causes enormous psychological distress to the victims.â€
Norman Brennan, of the Victims of Crime Trust, said that the Government, as well as judges and magistrates, should take partial responsibility for the death. He said: “What does it say about the criminal justice system when someone who has been a law-abiding member of the public all his life, in his twilight years is burgled so many times that he’s taken the option to kill himself rather than carry on? What does it take to wake this Government up? “Burglary is devastating and I challenge anyone in the Government to put forward any excuse as to why burglars should not be severely punished, because this surely indicates the worst that can happen to someone who is victimised.â€
A spokesman for Help the Aged said: “Something like a burglary can really knock confidence in terms of how the elderly feel about themselves and their environment.
“It can affect their ability to socialise, it can make people frightened to leave the house, it can affect the way they interact with their environment, which can have knock-on effects for their health.â€
He added that older people sometimes had a disproportionate sense of how likely they were to be victims of crime. “I think it’s important that people aren’t unduly worried,†he said.
“Older people are much less likely to be victims of crime than young men so you need to be very careful about how you approach the subject.†The charity urges old people to put door chains on before opening the door to callers, as well as ensuring they have identification.
Paul Fawcett, of Victim Support, said: “The reality is that crime disproportionately affects some people and some people just live with an ongoing nightmare,†he said.“It can haunt somebody from one month or week to the next.â€
