Crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers and partner Openreach (a BT Group Business) are appealing for information relating to the theft of telecommunications cable that took place in South East London [4 October 2012].

The incident occurred at 1pm on Monday October 1 2012 at Belfort Road, near the junction of Gauntry Rd, Peckham, with the damage disrupting services to hundreds of residents and businesses over a wide local area.

A reward of up to £1,000 is available for information that leads to an arrest and charge of the person/s responsible for this crime.

Crimestoppers and Openreach began working together in February 2011 and since then have been encouraging the public to help stop malicious damage being caused to this vital national infrastructure by contacting the charity anonymously with information.

'Highly dangerous'

A Crimestoppers spokesperson said: “Cable theft is a highly disruptive crime for a local community and can cost an awful lot of money to replace.

“More importantly, it is highly dangerous, so we would urge anyone with information to contact Crimestoppers anonymously if you have any information on this incident. We only want to know what you know, not who you are.”

BT Security general manager for Cable Theft, Simon Davies said: “This malicious damage to our network has left many people without important services.  We are calling on our customers and members of the public who saw anything suspicious in and around the area to contact Crimestoppers.”

The actions of cable thieves are completely indiscriminate and can often adversely affect the most vulnerable people in communities and disrupt life for others in so many ways.

Ifyou have any information about this incident, then please call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or fill in one of their secure online forms which can be found by visiting www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

*Please note: Rewards only qualify for information passed through the Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 number.

ENDS

For more information please contact BT’s regional press office on 0800 085 0660


NOTES TO EDITORS

• Around 22 people are arrested and charged every day as a result of information given to Crimestoppers.
• Since Crimestoppers began in 1988, it has received over a million actionable calls, resulting in over 115,000 arrests and charges. Over £123 million worth of goods has been recovered and over £232 million worth of drugs has been seized.
• In 2005, Crimestoppers launched the UK’s Most Wanted on its website which allows the public to view images of criminals and pass on vital information about their whereabouts. It has been highly successful with over 1,500 arrests to date.
• Crimestoppers UK was founded by Lord Ashcroft, KCMG, Chairman of Trustees. In 1988, he launched Crimestoppers in the Metropolitan Police area. Crimestoppers’ ‘call to action’ is built on a three-way partnership between the business community, the police and the media.