By Eric King
British transport police have released CCTV images of a man they wish to speak with in relation to a bag containing thousands of pounds worth of jewellery stolen from a Jubilee line train near Wembley on November 14, 2017.
Cops say the bag, initially reported by the 25-year-old victim to be lost property when the female owner reported it, is now being treated as a theft, and the perpetrator remains unidentified, almost two days after they launched a search for him.
An investigation by British Transport Police (BTP) officers has concluded that the bag was stolen and cops have renewed their appeal for the man featured in CCTV in connection with the theft.
The footage appears to show the man pick up the jewellery, but instead of handing it in to police, he happily went home with the expensive jewellery, most likely to exchange it for cash. If so, the man left his thinking cap off, conveniently forgetting that carriages on the London Underground are covered by CCTV. The CCTV footage may well have come back to hunt him.
The theft reportedly happened at around 12.10pm on a train travelling between Wembley Park and Neasden on November 14. The man ignominiously picked up the cash, ironically posing for police as he did so.
INVESTIGATION
A BTP spokesman told theeyeofmedia.com: “Officers would like to speak to the man shown in the CCTV images as he may have information which could help the investigation.
Addressing the length of time it took to release CCTV footage, the spokesperson said: ”CCTV on trains are primarily run by the transport operators and it sometimes take s a while to obtain them. In cases of a serious crime like a murder, requests for footage can be expedited, but not in all cases.
In addition, we often have to go through trawls of footage to locate the incident we are looking for”.
EXPENSIVE
When people find expensive valuables forgotten by distraught owners, they rarely ever put themselves in the shoes of the rightful owner but instead think of their own pockets. Considering two months has passed since the jewellery was stolen, the perpetrator must have converted the expensive jewellery to cash by now.