My stolen laptop sold on ebay now possible civil dispute? Please help!

adz2010

Dear All

My car got broken into last month and my laptop was stolen. To cut a long story short I managed to track it down and the police now have it in their possession. I had installed an anti theft software on my laptop which did its job. I found out who had it and told the police. It came into police possession last week. I was obviously over the moon and the police said I should get back within a week.

To my shock I was told on Wednesday 13th March that it will now turn into a civil dispute. As the person bought it off ebay for £690 cash and the police will now wait for a court to decide who should get it back.

This is depsite the fact I have reported it stolen , tracked down the person who had it , showed proof of purchase to the police and told them the serial number of the laptop before it came into the police possession!

Any advice would be great. Does the person even have a claim?

unholyangel

Did your insurance pay out for it at all?

nikki2804

My initial thoughts would be that whoever ended up with the laptop (the innocent party) would have a civil claim against the person they bought it from. It was a fraudulent 'contract' as the person who sold did not have any right to do so. So in theory the contract would not exist?

I cannot see why the civil dispute would be against you though? If it went to court I would assume that the sheriff would side with you and tell the other party to claim against the thief?

I could be wrong though and my only knowledge of the legal system is Scots Law.

adz2010

Nope my car insurance would only offer £100 (laptop is worth more then that) and I would lose my no claims as well.

unholyangel wrote: »

Did your insurance pay out for it at all?

adz2010

nikki2804 wrote: »

My initial thoughts would be that whoever ended up with the laptop (the innocent party) would have a civil claim against the person they bought it from. It was a fraudulent 'contract' as the person who sold did not have any right to do so. So in theory the contract would not exist?

I cannot see why the civil dispute would be against you though? If it went to court I would assume that the sheriff would side with you and tell the other party to claim against the thief?

I could be wrong though and my only knowledge of the legal system is Scots Law.

This is excatly what I thought but the police are stating that based on their legal advice they cannot give the property back to me unless the innocent party signs a disclaimer. If she does that then I can get my laptop back right away.

geri1965_2

The police don't know their a.rse from their elbow half the time. Who is bringing the civil action?

artbaron

adz2010 wrote: »

This is excatly what I thought but the police are stating that based on their legal advice they cannot give the property back to me unless the innocent party signs a disclaimer. If she does that then I can get my laptop back right away.

This is absolute rubbish. The police have the power to take the property and return it to its rightful owner if they have evidence it's definitely yours. Tell them to get off their lazy ars3s and do their job.

MamaMoo_2

Surely the cleverest thing to do would be for the buyer to claim via PayPal and for Plod to give you back the laptop? Buyer will want to hurry up though so it's within PayPal's time limits.

adz2010

MamaMoo wrote: »

Surely the cleverest thing to do would be for the buyer to claim via PayPal and for Plod to give you back the laptop? Buyer will want to hurry up though so it's within PayPal's time limits.

She paid for it via cash.

adz2010

geri1965 wrote: »

The police don't know their a.rse from their elbow half the time. Who is bringing the civil action?

No-one they told me to seek legal advice and then if lawyers agree then go to the small claims. I am just awaiting the lawyers response.

MamaMoo_2

adz2010 wrote: »

She paid for it via cash.

Typical.

adz2010 wrote: »

No-one they told me to seek legal advice and then if lawyers agree then go to the small claims. I am just awaiting the lawyers response.

Do you have a solicitor of your own? May be helpful in preventing this from going to court. However, if the lawyers they're consulting know anything, then there should hopefully not be too much of an issue.