Police apologise for telling theft victim they are 'too busy' to investigate

‘It's the principle of putting something on a plate for the police and them being too busy to act which is most upsetting’

Police said victim had given them all the information 'on a plate' - but did nothing for a week (PA)

Police have apologised to a business owner and victim of theft after he was told authorities were “too busy” to investigate.

Jack Whiteley, 69, had handed CCTV footage of thieves taking garden furniture to Essex Police, but was told the police were “unable to assist as they are at saturation point with their workload”.

Police made a U-turn and declared the case would be a priority, while Assistant Chief Constable Andy Prophet called for an “urgent review” of the crime.

Speaking on BBC 5 Live, Mr Prophet said: “In this case, an eminently solvable case, an officer should have been allocated more efficiently than on this occasion.

”This is a priority and Essex Police will be taking it forward.“

The CCTV imaging showed a man entering the warehouse from the front where a gate has yet to be installed and spending 45 minutes loading furniture into a van in August.

The same man returned the next day, accompanied by a woman, and stole more chairs, which cost £160 each.

When Whiteley called police, he was asked for the CCTV footage and then told they had discovered the name of the driver.

Mr Whiteley handed all the evidence to the police on a Tuesday and one officer described the case as a “slam dunk”.

But the police did not visit the thieves for almost a week as they said they were busy, despite having located their address.

”On Monday morning we rang Southend Police again only out find out that no one had visited these crooks as, in their words, they were too busy,” said Mr Whiteley.

He said the furniture had probably already been sold on for cheap and it was “extremely annoying”.

“I'm going to put a big high voltage gate up to stop this happening again and whilst it is costly, it won't bankrupt us,” he said.

"It's the principle of putting something on a plate for the police and them being too busy to act which is most upsetting."

An investigating officer at Essex Police is reviewing the case and the CCTV footage.

A spokesman added that Essex Police receives about 650 emergency calls every day, in addition to about 900 calls on the non-emergency number, and the cases are ranked by priority.

Agencies contributed to this report.