Police refused to give stolen phone back to victim – in case it harmed thief’s privacy rights
Police refused to give stolen phone back to victim – in case it harmed thief’s privacy rights
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A judge has lashed out at police for refusing to give a phone theft victim his mobile back. They told Melvyn Mainwaring that it wouldn’t be returned in case it infringed on the privacy rights of thief Daniel Reid, 33, Caernarfon Crown Court heard. His Samsung, credit cards and bus pass were taken when Reid broke into his home in Abergele, north Wales, on May 18 last year. He managed to cancel his cards but still had to pay his £18-a-month contract while Reid, who admitted burglary, was able to use it.
Judge Nicola Jones reserved some of her anger for police who, until yesterday, still had Melvyn’s phone. Melvyn told the judge that the loss of his phone had been a ‘massive inconvenience’ and that it contained irreplaceable photos. She asked prosecutor Tom McGloughlin if he was having difficulty getting the phone back ‘because of GDPR’. He replied: ‘It would not surprise me.’. Judge Jones pointed out that Reid had given no consideration to Melvyn’s GDPR rights when he broke into his home.
She said: ‘It’s ridiculous it will not be [returned]. It just seems nonsensical. ‘I do direct that North Wales Police return that telephone to Mr Mainwaring.’. Reid was jailed for nearly four years after admitting two other burglaries he carried out last spring. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next.
North Wales Police denied withholding the property of victims due to any ‘GDPR rights of a suspect’. Deputy Chief Constable Nigel Harrison said: ‘It is standard practice for police to retain evidential exhibits until the conclusion of a trial, should they be required in court. ‘North Wales Police had been in communication with the victim throughout this process, applying to the court for compensation for the victim due to the irretrievable nature of the data and pictures lost from the device due to the offender accessing it.
‘I congratulate the investigation team for their diligent work in bringing this criminal to justice, and acknowledge the strong sentence given by the judge in this case.’. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will chair a summit on smartphone theft after the Metropolitan Police seized more than 1,000 stolen devices in one week. The force targeted those involved in stealing, handling and supplying stolen phones in a week of ‘co-ordinated activity’ across London.
It said 230 people had been arrested in the clampdown on the ‘£50 million-a-year trade in stolen phones’. Speaking ahead of the summit on Thursday, Ms Cooper told LBC it was ‘totally unacceptable’ for people to feel unsafe on the streets over their phones and that she was looking at stronger powers for police to tackle the thefts. ‘It’s about hot spot policing and targeting and being ready to take swift action. It’s about speeding up the warrants,’ she said.
‘That’s one of the things we will be discussing at the summit today, is what more powers they (police) might need, what more action might be taken, because we’ve got to make sure that this really damaging organised crime can be tackled.’. She also said a strong partnership between police and tech companies was needed to do it. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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