Ian Carr said he no longer feels safe in his home – especially as he was refused a security fence by council housing services.

The 49-year-old claimed he was vulnerable to attack because of its easy entrance and over-exposure.

“It’s just unbelievable, it doesn’t feel like my home anymore,” he said.

“I had to spend the money on the CCTV because I just do not want anyone to burgle me again but this way at least if they do they’ll be caught on camera.

“I really do not want to move again, I just want to make it harder for them to get into the property.

Ian was first burgled in 1998 at his Nottingham City Homes property in Top Valley.

Following five more burglaries, he was eventually moved to a three-bedroom house in Mapperley Park.

But he was then was forced to move to a new bungalow in Whitemoor last year after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, which left him disabled and no longer able to use the stairs.

Now, Ian has been burgled again and believes it is because his property is completely exposed at the back meaning people can see inside the house and check what is worth taking.

“I think it does look vulnerable at the moment and that is a big part of the problem,” he said.

STUDENTS armed with crime prevention advice were due to walk the beat with police today as part of a campaign to reduce burglaries.

The University of Nottingham volunteers, dubbed “student ambassadors”, will be knocking on doors in Lenton and Canning Circus along with police and police community support officers.

Four student ambassadors, accompanied by an officer, will target area’s of Nottingham populated with students and offer simple home security tips, such as closing doors, shutting windows and storing valuables out of sight.

Residents will also be advised to visit the crime prevention website, www.easily-done.co.uk, Locksmart-uk.com and crime prevention leaflets will be left at unanswered homes.

Students will also be offered free SmartWater, a property-marking device, and given free registration to the immobilise database, which allows stolen property to be easily returned if recovered.

Local locksmith Mark Hayes of 24hourlocksmithsnottingham.co.uk based in the lenton area said

“We’re hoping that by offering some simple advice we can help more students take responsibility for their possessions and make sure they don’t give burglars a chance.”

Since 2003, police and partners have been running Operation Country, an initiative tackling burglary in Lenton, Radford and Canning Circus.

In this time the number of student burglaries has steadily fallen and between 2007/08 and 2008/09 there was a 59 per cent fall in break-ins.

Throughout the academic year, police analyse intelligence to identify vulnerable areas and use both overt and covert tactics to deter burglaries and catch offenders.

Canning Circus Inspector Anwaar Ahmed said: “This fall in crime is the result of good police operations and excellent partnership work.”

A court heard how years of prison sentences had failed to break the cycle of heroin addiction and offending for Paul Whitley, 28.

Whitley, of Fairfield Street, Bramley, pleaded guilty to two charges of burglary at Leeds Crown Court and asked for 128 similar offences – mainly shed break-ins – to be taken into consideration.

Whitley wrote a letter to the court describing himself as “a waste of a life” after spending 14 years addicted to heroin.

Laura Addy, prosecuting, said Whitley broke into a shed on Beecroft
Mount, Bramley, on April 6 this year but was disturbed.

The owner saw the shed door open and when he went investigate, he found
Whitley crouched inside clutching a crowbar.

There was a scuffle between the pair and Whitley fled after being thrown into a hedge. His hat fell off and he was traced through DNA.

On June 25, he was caught on CCTV breaking into a shed on Cherry Tree Crescent, Farsley, where he stole £4,000 worth of fishing tackle and £700 worth of power tools.

Miss Addy handed Recorder Deborah Sherwin a schedule of 128 similar offences which Whitley asked to be taken into consideration. Many involved the loss of property worth thousands of pounds.

Marlon Grossman, mitigating, said Whitley was not violent and was not carrying the crowbar in order to attack the homeowner at Beecroft Mount.

He said: “He has written a letter to the court expressing a great deal
of remorse for his actions.

“Now that he’s clean from drugs, when he thinks about this offence it makes him shake and he feels thoroughly ashamed.”

Referring to the other offences, he said: “He has assisted the police to an extent he did not need to.

“He does not want any further court prosecutions for his old life.”

He said Whitley had also been emotionally affected by the loss of his father in December and was left shaken after finding a dead body near the Stanningley Bypass in June.

Mr Grossman urged Recorder Sherwin to accept the recommendations of a pre-sentence report, which called for a community-based sentence designed to tackle his drug addiction.

Whitley was given a two-year community order and two years supervision.

He was also ordered to undertake a nine-month drug rehabilitation requirement.

Recorder Sherwin warned him he faced a life behind bars if he failed to comply with the order.

Ryan Moore, aged 30, of The Heath, Holt Heath, and Darren Smith, 23, of Selsey Close, Warndon, Worcester, admitted stealing £657 from the Blackpole Inn in Blackpole, Worcester.

Worcester Magistrates Court was told how Moore gave Smith a shin-up onto a flat roof of the pub during the burglary on Thursday, September 30.

Matt Dodson, prosecuting, said the pub manager called police telling them the pub had been the target of a burglary.

He said £657 had been stolen from an office on the first floor at the back of the pub where a window had been left open for ventilation.

A customer was able to identify two men behaving suspiciously immediately before the burglary and identified both defendants after viewing CCTV.

Mr Dodson said Moore gave “no comment” responses to questions in police interview while Smith said “he hadn’t got a clue what was going on and denied any involvement”.

Mr Dodson said: “He was then asked to view CCTV and then subsequently said ‘it’s me’.

“He accepted he did everything that was mentioned to him during interview. He stated he did the theft alone and wasn’t dependent on drugs and didn’t have a cash flow problem.”

Barry Newton, defending Smith, said his client had a historic drug problem but was working with the community drugs team and that his last offence was two years ago.

He said: “You have an opportunistic entry and there are no aggravating features.

“The premises are insecure. That’s something the pub’s insurers might be interested in. It’s a sneak-in and sneak-out burglary.”

Mark Turner, representing Moore, said: “Mr Moore doesn’t enter the property – he remained outside acting as something of a lookout. He assisted Mr Smith by giving him a leg-up.”

Moore also admitted failing to surrender to police custody at the same hearing.

The court was told how £180 in cash was recovered at the scene where they dropped it as the pair fled which left £477 outstanding. That meant there was £238.50 for them each to pay back to Marston’s Beer Company.

Smith has a record of 49 offences, including three non-dwelling burglaries. The case was adjourned to Wednesday, November 10, for pre-sentence reports.

Alwyn Hartley

A SERIAL burglar has been jailed for four years and nine months after stealing £2,800-worth of jewellery from the a pensioner’s home.

The collection stolen by Alwyn Hartley had been built up over 70 years by an 83-year-old woman from Mansfield Road, Sherwood.

A set of cufflinks that she had given to her late husband were taken as well as gifts from her grandchildren, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Hartley, 35, was arrested after he left a blood-stained latex glove at the scene on April 2 this year.

Sentencing him, Judge Jonathan Teare said: “You cleared out every bit of memorabilia that she had. All the memories of her late husband were taken by you for drugs as well as many other personal items. Her life, her happy old age, must have been ruined by your actions.”

Hartley was on bail at the time for an attempted burglary on February 9 in Loughborough Road, West Bridgford.

Neighbours went to investigate after he set off a burglar alarm at 7.30pm. They discovered a black glove with the defendant’s blood on it in a bin in the kitchen.

Hartley received four years and nine months for the burglary in Mansfield Road and three years concurrently for the attempted burglary in Loughborough Road.

He pleaded guilty to the charges at previous court hearings. With more than three burglary offences on his record, he qualified for a minimum three-year custodial sentence under the Government’s “three strikes and you’re out” policy.

If you would like advice on home security please contact Locksmiths in Nottingham or vist the LockSmart website for a free home security assessment

Reports of Cheryl Cole upgrading here home security after death threats over her treatment of a contestant on the xfactor were splashed across the news papers recently but since most of us don’t judge on the show we don’t think theirs much need to upgrade our home security till its to late.

Burglary is still a very high percentage crime in ALL areas but most people dont even think about home security untill it happens to them or there insurance company asks what upgrades have been added to hte house in the last ten years.

home security has been much inproved but so has the knowlege that burglars have so much so that even a small time crook has the abilty to bypass you old out dated home security.

So to answer the leading question When is the best time to upgrade your home security? Now is the answer.

By making sure LockSmart locksmiths keep to the high standards set by the Locksmith Federation we know that the customer will always be happy.

LockSmart has been a driving force helping independent locksmiths across find enjoyment and extra work through a uniformed website that makes the job of finding a local qualified locksmith easy.

instead of having to trawl lots of sites for a Nottingham 24 hour locksmith or locksmiths in Derby just visit the locksmart site select your region and you will be presented with your local qualified locksmith again easy.

but what happens if your locked out at 3am? easy

Most mobile now have internet access either view the locksmart main site to be auto redirected or visit m.locksmart-uk.com and you will find our mobile site – simply enter your postcode and you will get the number of the nearest qualified locksmith.

As new technoligy arrives not only will will use it to help us in our job but also use it to make the customers life easy.

Locksmart – finding a locksmith in the UK just got easy!

Unlike other locksmiths Lenton Locksmiths not only offer great service but discount prices to students living in Nottingham(on production of a valid NUS card) and because there based in the area the have a 30min max call out time  rule not matter what time of the day or night you require their services.

Fixed charges for lock outs are agreed over the phone so no unknowing large bills for items you do not need and all work is insured and invoices supplied.

Lenton Locks works hand in hand with landlords in the area and all locksmiths are fully police checked.

Locked out of your student room? give Lenton Locks a call 0700 3496 125 the only student approved 24 hour locksmiths in Nottingham

View Lenton Locks – Student Locksmiths in a larger map

Choose the best choose LockSmart – 24 hour Locksmiths in Nottingham -

Most folk will never need to know who there local qualified locksmith is until they need there help, this also happens at the most inconvenient time – so here’s the scenario – its 11pm on a wet cold night and you arrive home to find that you have lost your keys/broken your key in the door so you think off the options can you climb in through a window? no there all shut what about kicking the door in? this could prove really expensive – so your left with the option to call a locksmith but as stated earlier you’ve never had to call one before so how do you choose the best qualified yet reasonable priced? well stay clear of telephone directories as you’ll only get the number of the locksmith most willing to pay to have his number at the top of there pile, directories like 118118 and others make no searches in to the quality or honesty of the the locksmiths they supply just the one that’s paid the most and he will have to get his money back for this so you’ll probably find they are very expensive.

Most Phones have a Internet connection so they best way is to get online and search from you favorite search engine – like we said its quite late so most locksmiths who open after 7pm are 24hr locksmiths so search for that term as 24hr locksmiths or 24 hour locksmiths and don’t forget to ad your town or city afterwards to get the ones closest to you i.e 24 hour locksmith nottingham

Good now you should have a couple to choose from but how do you sort the quality Locksmiths from the Cowboy Rip Offs?

A good Locksmith will be part off a recognised trade body like Locksmith Federation who not only check that all its member locksmiths are fully trained but also have been police checked and hold the proper insurance cover. Locksmith Federation is a non profit organisation that maintains standard for the locksmith industry so the general public are protected – other Recognised body’s include MLA and CLA.

All Locksmart Locksmith’s are members of the Locksmith Federation and adair to its strict policies and standards to insure customer satisfaction, Locksmart DO NOT CHARGE FOR CALL OUTS but instead have set hourly rates that are explained and agreed before the locksmith attends. No Unnecessary work will be added to your bill.