Who Can You Trust

Rayleigh Watch team are simply top class

BARBARA and Tony Oliver, who run the Louis Road Watch in Rayleigh, have been chosen as the Essex Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators of the year.

Pay victims or go to prison

It's safety first

A MAN has been told to pay back more than £200,000 to investors who bought into a land-banking scheme that didn’t happen.
Aaron Walker, 30, of The Parkway, Canvey, could face personal bankruptcy after defying a High Court order to hand over £203,100.
The Financial Services Authority has issued a public notice, warning Mr Walker to pay up or face bankruptcy. Mr Walker runs Cityshore Commodities, a firm which sold small plots of land as investments with claims they were likely to get planning permission and therefore increase in value. The firm made more than £400,000 in sales and profits, but should have been authorised by the FSA.

One third of all recent burglaries in the Basildon were a result of uPVC doors not being securely locked. Don't become a uPVC door statistic - make sure you:
lift the handle
lock the door
take the key out

FSA warning to 76,000 people

THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) is contacting more than 76,000 people who could be targets for fraudsters trying to con them out of their money.
The names appeared on a number of lists recovered from companies that the FSA believes were fraudulently selling investments in land or worthless, sometimes non-existent, shares.
Combined into one list of 76,732 people, this is the largest number of potential victims that the FSA has ever contacted in one go. The FSA can be contacted on 0845 155 6355.

Card losses drop

Losses through fraud on credit and debit cards have fallen to their lowest level for 11 years. New figures card crime fell by seven per cent last year to £341m largely down to a 41% decline in card ID theft.

Bogus carer robs 99 year old

ID theft shock

Figures released by credit reference agency Experian put Slough at the top of the nationwide Identity Theft table and also reveals how some of the world's top stars have also been victims

DETECTIVES are trying to find a woman who posed as a carer and stole £3500 from a man in Chelmsford...just days before his 100th birthday
She gained entry to the property in St Anthony's Drive, Moulsham,and asked the man for payment for caring services. While he was distracted she stole an envelope containing cash. The suspect is described as around 30 years of age, 5ft 5in tall and of medium build. Anyone with information should contact Dc Joanne Scutchey at Chelmsford on 101

News in brief

Rare coin collection stolen
Detectives are appealing for information and witnesses following a
burglary in which unusual rare coins were stolen in Chelmsford.

Children will burst into song
Nearly 2,000 schoolchildren are preparing to make Southend reverberate with song when the Olympic Torch Relay passes through the town on 6th July.

Island ride gets MOD go-ahead
The 2011 Foulness Island bike ride takes place on 9th September and although usually closed, the MOD gave permission for the Island to open for one day only.

Festival favourites are back
By popular acclaim, T-Fest favourite Tall Dark Friend will be playing on both days of this year's event - Saturday, 2 June and Sunday, 3 June.

Plaque honours architect James
The first commemorative blue plaque in Chelmsford for five years has been unveiled to commemorate the life and work of architect James Fenton.

Low carbon grants boost
Already in Castle Point, over 30 businesses have been awarded grants totalling in excess of £100,000 to implement Low Carbon solutions to their businesses.

Police warning after burglaries
P olice in Pitsea are warning residents to be vigilant following a spate of daytime burgloaries in Chalvedon and Felmores.

Residents are recycling more
Residents in Castle Point recycled more than half their rubbish last year by taking advantage of the Council’s extensive refuse and recycling programme.

Warning over a bogus plumber

POLICEare advising residents to be aware of a bogus cold-calling plumber after distraction burglaries in Brentwood and Basildon.
A man entered the flat of a 94-year-old woman in Brentwood and demanded money to stop her home flooding. The woman gave him a two-figure sum of cash and he left, threatening to come back the next day to fix the problem.
Detectives believe the bogus plumber struck again in Basildon when an 89-year-old woman living off Little Lullaway was targeted. A man knocked at the door and told a similar story but the woman refused to let him inside.
Anyone with information in connection with this burglary is urged to contact detectives at Basildon police station on 101.

Disc drives that reveal your identity

THOUSANDS of second-hand computer disk drives still contain personal information, a study by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has found.
After purchasing more than 200 drives from websites such as eBay it said 11% still contained sensitive details. It also searched 20 memory sticks and 10 mobile phones and recovered 34,000 files, including scanned bank statements, passports, information on previous driving offences and medical details.
Within the machines collected, 48% had some information left on them and at least two had enough data left on them to enable the previous owners' identities to be stolen. A separate study by the ICO also discovered that 65% of people now pass on their old electronic equipment such as mobile phones, computers and laptops to other people, and one in 10 have never wiped a machine before getting rid of it.

Watch news
IF you want to send us your Neighbourhood Watch news go to our community news page to see where to send your articles.

Shopping local
Rochford District Council is campaigning to ensure local shops survive the threat from regional shopping centres like Lakeside and Bluewater.

If you want one of our Keep Callers Out posters for your front door or window, click on the picture and it will take you straight to the site where you can download it to your desktop or email peter faulkner at peterfaulkner @whocanyou trust .org.uk and we'll email it by return.

For news and lifestyle features log onto www.countymediaenterprises.co.uk

WCYT

www.whocanyoutrust.org.uk

Be Aware, Be Alert, Be Safe

It's safety first

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