Warning after spate of fence panel thefts across Wolverhampton

Residents across Wolverhampton are being warned to beware of thieves stealing fence panels following a spate of recent incidents.

Sally Green and Councillor Paul Birch on her driveway in Upper Villiers Street where the fence panels were stolen from

It is believed that the fully framed feather-edge panels, which need to be fitted by contractors, are being stolen to order with specific properties being targeted.

Sally Green, who is the coordinator for Blakenhall’s StreetWatch scheme, had five brand new fence panels taken from her home in Upper Villiers Street last week.

The theft on Friday at 5.10am was captured on CCTV.

She said: “A man in a van drove up the street and then came back down and parked on the driveway next door. It took him less than five minutes to remove the panels because we’d only had them in two weeks and not had time to screw them down.

The theft is caught on CCTV. Image: Paul Birch

“These aren’t fence panels that you can buy from B&Q or Wickes. They need to be fitted by a contractor, so I know we were definitely targeted. I’ve spoken to several contractors since and they all said this type of crime is increasing, with these panels being stolen to order. Anyone who has got these needs to be aware.

“Even though the theft was caught on CCTV, the man – who was wearing a high-vis jacket – had conveniently covered his number plate over. It totally ruined Christmas and New Year as we’re now out of pocket and had to pay to have an extra security camera installed. We reported it to the police, but a warning needs to go out to people that this type of crime is on the rise,” she added.

Councillor Paul Birch, who lives opposite on Goldthorn Hill, said: “We have 30 cameras surrounding our property across three independent systems and will be checking another system today to see if we can get a better resolution of the vehicle registration number. Hopefully we will track down the offender and he will be prosecuted.

“We all believe in right and wrong, but in some people there is a disconnection between their own needs and harming others. This type of low level anti-social behaviour crime undermines all of our communities.

The space left following the theft of the fence panels. Photo: Sally Green

“Crime of this kind is happening more and more across the city and I am pleased to hear the Labour police and crime commissioner Simon Foster say he is recruiting another 450 officers. In 2010 when Labour last held office in the UK, we had 172,000 officers compared to 150,000 by 2019.

“Since then figures have increased to 164,000, but with officers retiring the 43 police forces are having difficulty recruiting sufficient number of officers to the point where the police are forced to decide which crimes to investigate,” he added.

Mrs Green, who is also chair of the Goldthorn Hill Pumping Station Allotment Society, has been selected to stand as council candidate for Labour in Blakenhall at May’s local elections when Councillor Paul Birch steps down.