Police are asking for help in identifying an Irish accented thief who is thought to have duped a number of elderly Chiswick residents.

The first incident occurred in Staveley Gardens at 2.30pm on Saturday 17th May.

The victim, an 86-year-old female, answered the door to a male who claimed that there was a leak in other flats in the block and that it could be coming from the victim’s kitchen.

Whilst in the kitchen, the suspect appeared to check under the sink, and then asked the victim to stay in the kitchen, whilst he went elsewhere within the flat to check for any leaks.

During his ‘search’ for leaks, the suspect stole a large amount of cash from the victim’s bedroom cupboard, and left the flat leaving the victim still in the kitchen.

The suspect is described as a white male, aged 25 years approx, 5’4”, working man’s overalls, black body warmer, short dark hair, Irish accent and thin build.

The second incident happened later the same day at around 3.30pm. This time the victim was an 89 year old resident of Middlesex Court, British Grove.

The elderly male victim answered the door to a man claiming to be from the water board and that the flat above him was leaking water into his flat.

The suspect asked if he could look in the kitchen and the victim let him in. The male closed the front door behind him and followed the victim into the kitchen. When in the kitchen he looked at the boiler and victim believes that when his back was turned he flicked some water up on the ceiling and then showed the victim the water on the ceiling.

He then asked the victim to take everything out of his drawers so he could check to see if there was any water in there. The victim did this and nothing was found. The suspect then left the address some 25 minutes later.

When the victim returned to his living room and noticed that a drawer was open and thought this was odd, as he had left it closed. He then went into the spare bedroom and found that the cupboard had been forced open and the locks broken. The victim believes bankbooks from HSBC, Abbey National and Lloyds TSB were taken.

He described the suspect as being a white male, aged 25 years, 5’9”, wearing a light brown boiler suit, short dark brown hair, Irish accent, medium build.

Whilst the two description vary slightly, Police believe the two incidents are linked and ask witnesses or anyone with information to call Hounslow CID in confidence on 0208 247 6160/5940 or Crime Stoppers anonymously 0800 5551111 quoting crime reference: British Grove 0511298/08, Staveley Gardens 0511281/08.

 

May 22, 2008