Putney man & mate convicted of attempted burglary

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pretending to be an employee of a gas company

Stephen Mari, 25, unemployed of Penwood House, Danebury Avenue, Putney and Simon Faherty, 24, unemployed of Harlington, Middlesex appeared at South Western Magistrates’ Court on Friday 24 March, charged with attempted burglary. Both men were convicted and Mari received 4 months’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months; Faherty received 4 months’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months plus 100 hours’ unpaid work.

On Wednesday 15 March, the Focus team (pictured below) responded to a call of suspects attempting entry to premises in Upper Richmond Road, Putney. Due to a recent spate of burglaries, this area had come under special attention from the Burglary Intelligence Unit and the Focus team wasted no time in securing the area and talking to residents on what they saw.

They obtained a description of two suspects; one reportedly dressed up as a gas meter official and with the help of response officers and Q car they set off to round them up.

Two of the Focus officers found a man dressed up as a gas meter official with all the relevant equipment who matched the suspect description and the officers identified him as Stephen Mari. They soon discovered that Mari was a previous employee of the Gas Board, but had been dismissed two months ago. Their colleagues tracked down the second suspect, Faherty, and they were arrested and taken to Wandsworth police station.

Detective Supt. Ferguson commended the Focus Unit: “This was a significant result and after recovering a substantial amount of stolen property from one of the addresses, evidence suggests that they were behind a number of burglaries in the area. I want to thank all the officers involved for their dedication in making Wandsworth a safer borough.”

Over the past month, 15% of the borough's burglaries have been committed in this area of Putney between 10am-6pm by a man using bodily pressure on the front door to enter the premises.

Distraction burglary and Bogus callers are often a concern for elderly people and their relatives. Our advice is ‘if in doubt, lock them out’. Do not let them talk their way into your home. If they continue to knock on your door, dial 999. Police officers will be very pleased to attend and deal with the situation. Please do not to keep large amounts of money in your house.

March 31, 2006