Burglaries and robberies in Norfolk plummeted last year while people were stuck in lockdown, but fraudsters thrived.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal domestic burglaries in the county were down 25 per cent in the year to September 2021, while robberies collapsed by 19 per cent.
There were 321 robberies in Norfolk and Waveney and 11,611 thefts, also down 19 percent. Shoplifting, meanwhile, dropped by 28 per cent.
The reductions were to be expected in a year when people spent more time in their homes but the county’s figures fell further than the national averages. Norfolk’s burglary rate is now the second-lowest in the country.
'Financially ruined'
However, police reported that incidents of fraud and computer misuse increased by 17 per cent, to more than 5,000 crimes in a year, in a sign that criminals increasingly prefer using computers rather than crowbars to part victims from their money.
Just last week a Norfolk appliance shop saw £810 worth of goods walk out of the door when criminals used a fake card to pretend to pay for a tumble dryer and vacuum cleaners. The crime has been reported to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime.
Giles Orpen-Smellie, Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk said that responding to a growth in fraud offences will be a priority in his crime plan, due to be published at the end of March.
One fraud victim, Vicki Mileham, from Belton, said she had been left “financially ruined” after taking out a loan of £80,000 for an extension. The builder she paid pleaded guilty to fraud but, she said, initially police told her it was a civil matter and refused to get involved.
Last month the builder, Kyle Muir from Great Yarmouth, pleaded guilty to seven offences under the Fraud Act. The court heard he left Ms Mileham's home with a sagging roof, unsafe boiler works and exposed electrical cables, among other faults.
Ms Mileham, 52, said: “I'm financially ruined. That (money) was borrowed with a mortgage, a loan, and a credit card.
“I reported it as fraud back in the beginning, April 2021, and Norfolk Police told me it was a civil matter not a police matter.
“Why don’t they see that it’s theft? Why do I have to pay all this back when they took my money, they had my money, they spent my money, yet I’ve got to spend 16 more years paying it back - that’s not right.
“Everybody needs to take fraud more seriously - especially the police.”
Better news on burglaries
In Suffolk there were also big falls in crime with theft offences falling 19 per cent, including a fall of 31 per cent in burglaries. Robberies were down 28 per cent from 349 to 250.
Norfolk’s Chief Constable Paul Sandford acknowledged the figures were affected by the pandemic but said they were also a testament to work by officers and staff.
He said: “It’s pleasing to see continued reductions in crimes which often have the biggest impact on our communities, such as residential burglary.
“Burglary is an intrusive crime and one we take seriously, which is evident in our efforts to investigate and bring offenders to justice. In the last week, detectives have charged two men following separate burglary spates in coastal and central areas of Great Yarmouth.”
The force’s record on solving burglaries is marginally better than the national average. In the year to September 2021, 4.9 per cent of Norfolk Police's closed domestic burglary cases ended in a suspect being charged, meaning 19 out of 20 did not. Nationally the figure was 3.9 per cent.
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