Retailer sold property stolen from me after they'd been notified of the theft and given crime number

davemee_2

A high-street new and 2nd hand electronics and gaming retailer has sold the proceeds of a burglary that happened to me. The seller was stupid enough to leave his contact details to get his reward from the three-letter store, and to leave his name and address at the scene of the crime. He made multiple visits to the store with my property, and despite the store contacting him to tell him to collect the items they were not going to sell (lots of Japanese imports), he continued to drop things off, and never collect the items they were not selling. As a retailer, I'd be concerned about why he was not collecting 'his' property at this point - particularly considering the value of some of it.

I identified and documented the items on sale at the store, but they provided very little information, using GDPR as an excuse to refuse to provide details of the regional manager who was dealing with this, nor provide a list of the items they had sold (which I now have). Some of the property was sold at the start of lockdown, when I could not access the stores to check if they'd turned up there, so clearly some had been sold through their mail-order operations. What was most galling was that they continued to sell my property *after* they'd been notified of the theft and provided with crime numbers, contact details, and the officer handling the case. The items they sold would have been sold for around £1,000 total, but worth more based on the condition they were in and relative rarity of them. I asked the retailer what efforts they had made to recover the property - they would be the only people with the details of the purchasers - and they avoided the question, instead offering a £50 'goodwill voucher'. Most of these items would be very difficult to replace in the condition they were in (original packaging, purchase receipts, many 20-30 years old).

I've been trying to find a solicitor who can assist in recovery from the retailer, but having hunted though the law society's lists, I'm not sure what areas of law would be useful. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

I'm posting here on a suggestion from the officer handling the case, as they don't have the capacity to chase this up (it's already been over a year dealing with the burglary alone).

cx6

I would just do a small claims court (moneyclaimsonline) against the retailer for the full value (not sale value) of your items. It will cost you very little, and as long as you can prove the store knew it was your property they were selling then you have a chance of persuading the judge.

As always, keep it simple. No need to document the crime in detail etc. Just the bare facts it was your stuff they sold.

bris

Why didn't the officer handling the case seize the goods? The police can and often do seize goods from this type of shop.

The officer must have a reason, have you asked why the goods wern't imponded by them?

cx6

In addition there is, of course, the crime of handling stolen goods.

However when it comes to getting your money this is a civil matter for the courts eg small claims court

dil1976

Did you inform the police that your property was there in said store so they could enquire?

davemee_2

The delay between my identification of the items to the store and police and their police seizure was due to delays, I guess due to the increase in domestic violence due to lockdown, lockdown itself, christmas, and a decade of tory cuts to the police and CPS. Regardless, I identified them at the store, provided a crime number, and contact details. One store items were found at were happy to remove the items from sale immediately; another didn't, prevaricated about GDPR and the rights of the burglar, and told me they were aware they had stolen goods as the initial store I identified my items at raised an issue on their internal email systems and notified other local branches. They absolutely knew the items were stolen, and I guess they took a very stupid route to cutting their losses by trying to recoup as much from the sale of the items, rather than trying to recover from the guy they paid for my stolen property.

They've been absolute backside-covering nightmares about the whole thing. This is why I've put money aside to prosecute, and why I collected evidence proving they knowingly sold stolen property.

user1977

davemee_2 said:

They've been absolute backside-covering nightmares about the whole thing. This is why I've put money aside to prosecute, and why I collected evidence proving they knowingly sold stolen property.

You don't "prosecute". If there's been a crime committed, you report it to the police, and they/CPS decide whether they prosecute.

bris

It's not as easy as that. Your word that it was your goods is not enough.

You will need a conviction and and a confession that the goods were sold to the store.

The shop which I believe is the popular 3 lettter store have a very strict policy before buying the goods, this makes them pretty much untouchable as they follow the law on indentification before buying so they will be innocent purchasers.

Your claim is against the thief, once convicted whose details the police now have so it should be an easy conviction.

Manxman_in_exile

What evidence do you have - ie how can you "prove" in court - that (1) the items that were sold belonged to you, (2) that you had informed the shop that they belonged to you, and (3) that the shop sold them knowing they had been stolen from you?

Do you have an email trail or anything like that evidencing that you told the shop all this and that they acknowledged it?  If you tracked the stolen items to the shop yourself (ie it wasn't the police who tracked them) did you get the investigating officer to contact the shop and alert them?  I appreciate that you say the police could not do much for lack of resources ( ) but do you have evidence that you asked them to contact the shop?  Or can you get the police to confirm that you did ask them?

I can understand why the shop won't give you details of who supplied the items to them, but can't the police get these details from them?  They're investigating a crime.