Injunction against potential burglar/thief

[didds]

Last night a work colleague had a local well known drug abuser and thief apprehended in his garden. The perp is well known to "everybody" in the area and he has previous. Maybe he'll gop down this time, maybe not, and if he does it wont be for long etc. (that's not a rant ]

The thought crossed our minds - as this perp is well known for his nefarious activities and my colleague is a known target now, is if feasible to apply for an injunction for the perp to not be within 5m (or whatever) of colleague's property? Obviously that wont stop his from trying it on necessarily but would provide another level of criminality should he do so.

Is that a possible scenario? would such an injunction be granted ? would it be in any sense worthwhile?

And if so etc ... what of colleague's neighbors - they haven't been targeted themselves (yet!) - but are adjacent to a property that has? And then - what about everybody in the street? etc?

This is more of a moot idea than anything real and substantial ... we are intrigued.

And we accept we are not lawyers and probably has totally misunderstood the use of injunctions

cheers

didds

[dionaeamuscipula]

Last night a work colleague had a local well known drug abuser and thief apprehended in his garden. The perp is well known to "everybody" in the area and he has previous. Maybe he'll gop down this time, maybe not, and if he does it wont be for long etc. (that's not a rant ]

The thought crossed our minds - as this perp is well known for his nefarious activities and my colleague is a known target now, is if feasible to apply for an injunction for the perp to not be within 5m (or whatever) of colleague's property? Obviously that wont stop his from trying it on necessarily but would provide another level of criminality should he do so.

Is that a possible scenario? would such an injunction be granted ? would it be in any sense worthwhile?

And if so etc ... what of colleague's neighbors - they haven't been targeted themselves (yet!) - but are adjacent to a property that has? And then - what about everybody in the street? etc?

This is more of a moot idea than anything real and substantial ... we are intrigued.

And we accept we are not lawyers and probably has totally misunderstood the use of injunctions

cheers

didds

What are you *actually* trying to achieve, and how would any injunction be enforced?

How does *everyone* *know* that he is a bad 'un rather than say the victim of a witch hunt, and how do you prove that to a court?

DM

[didds]

as I said WANL, and its was a moot discussion.

The perp is well known, has previous etc etc etc. He was caught on colleague's property in a shed etc. Bang to rights etc.,

the thought process is that whilst clearly an injunction is not a forcefield, nonethless our ignorant understanding is IF the perp ever returned and could be shown to have done so (CCTV, photographs, police arrive similarly, whatever) then there is now a breach of injunction = contempt of court (as we understand it) and so in itself a criminal act... so if theft or whatever couldn't be proved next time then the contempt of court is available.

As I said this is very moot - there must be a reason why people "never" do it. Unless its a belief whereby lightening never strikes twice etc.

didds

[didds]

Or of course in our ignorance is that not how injunctions work? How do people that have imjunctions against abusive ex partners enforce them?

didds

[dionaeamuscipula]

Or of course in our ignorance is that not how injunctions work? How do people that have imjunctions against abusive ex partners enforce them?

Through the courts.

eg: (although this is a restraining order) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-n ... e-49610497

The point being that even the perp being jailed has not stopped him.

When you said "5m" do you mean 5 metres or 5 miles? If 5 miles, does the "perp" live within this area?

I imagine the problems with injunctions like this is that they are very expensive, difficult to make reasonable - is he prevented from going to the shops? to work? to the station? - and don't have the desired effect in that there will be no behavioural change and jail is a very, very last resort. But I don't have any actual experience or knowledge.

DM

[didds]

m=metres... on the basis that miles might be favourable from colleague's perpsective but as the perp comes from the same town that would be unreasonable 5m boundary wouldn't encompass any shops etc and he could cross the road. TBH 1m would create the same end result basically . Its lack of entry to the property that would be the intended aim after all.

The cost aspect etc makes sense as to why its not a typical response

cheers

didds

[ReformedCharacter]

Or of course in our ignorance is that not how injunctions work? How do people that have imjunctions against abusive ex partners enforce them?

didds

That's a good question and it may in part come down to police resources. A case in point, a colleague of my OH was thrown down the stairs by her abusive husband, many broken bones and some degree of permanent damage. I do not know whether that individual received a custodial sentence. Yet, he still stalks her, eg. parking outside her house. If she contacts the police then by the time they arrive he has disappeared and nothing else is done.

Just a few days ago, her son who is a trainee poiceman returned home after shopping to find the ex-husband throttling his mother. It would seem that getting a restraining order or whatever, and actually getting it enforced are two different matters.

RC

[Avantegarde]

You may wish to discuss this with the police officer or a knowledgeable lawyer. There are fairly new laws aimed at stopping anti-social behaviour that may be useful. By way of an example, I recently found that a local suspected drug dealer who lives round the corner had been evicted from his own home (which he owns) for six months under a so-called Closure Order. I had not heard of them before. Because the police couldn't actually prosecute him for drug dealing (insufficient evidence), they gathered enough evidence about the endless stream of customers going to and from his house at all hours of the day and night, causing a noisy nuisance to neighbours in the process. It took the Police a long time but they eventually gathered sufficient evidence of the anti-social behaviour to convince a magistrate to issue the order. Perhaps similar orders can be applied for in your circumstances?

[Clitheroekid]

is if feasible to apply for an injunction for the perp to not be within 5m (or whatever) of colleague's property? Obviously that wont stop his from trying it on necessarily but would provide another level of criminality should he do so.

Is that a possible scenario? would such an injunction be granted ? would it be in any sense worthwhile?

The short answer is yes, you probably would be granted an injunction. He's trespassed on your property, and the fact that he's hardly likely to turn up at court and contest the application would obviously help.

But people don't make such applications because (1) they're expensive - a couple of thousand quid; and (2) they're pointless.

A burglar has a choice of any number of properties to burgle, and (though I don't profess any expertise on the subject) I'd have thought it inherently very unlikely that he would choose to burgle the same property twice, so it would be shutting a very expensive stable door after the horse had bolted.

[didds]

[
A burglar has a choice of any number of properties to burgle, and (though I don't profess any expertise on the subject) I'd have thought it inherently very unlikely that he would choose to burgle the same property twice, so it would be shutting a very expensive stable door after the horse had bolted.

There is a school of thought/knowledge that says when a burglar robs a house, they may come back in a few weeks because they expect the stolen items will now have been replaced and they'll be available again... (maybe more so with electronic equipment and tools etc than jewelry etc ).

This was the advice given to us when we got burgled as well, from the scene of crime officer.

That isn't to say that definitely does happen of course!

didds


PS turns out our perp was an "away day" burglar and had come 40 miles to target our village for the day.