Saturday 15 May 2010

Is There Anything Apple Can’t Do..?

A teenager helped police by using her iPod to catch a thieving school cleaner.

The 15-year-old Newstead Wood School pupil hid in a cupboard and used her iPod to video her classroom while Olajumoke Ajadi was cleaning.

From her hidden location the girl caught Ajadi on film taking £100 from a handbag at the girls’ school in Avebury Road, Orpington.
That showed some initiative. Good for her!
The 28-year-old initially denied two counts of theft but admitted the charges when faced with the video evidence.

Ajadi, of Arthur Grove, Woolwich, was given a 12-month community order at Bromley Magistrates’ Court requiring her to do 60 hours of unpaid work.
And that’s it? What about a confiscation order for the money?
Her arrest came after Newstead Wood’s police schools officer was alerted by the school to a series of 35 thefts from pupils and staff over previous months in which a total of £585.85 was stolen.

These began around the time Ajadi started at the school in January this year but there was insufficient evidence for any prosecutions to be brought in the other cases.
Yeah. Right

And the police’s response?
Detective Inspector Jane Corrigan, from Bromley CID, said: "Working in conjunction with the school and pupils, police found irrefutable evidence of theft against Ajadi.

“This shameful act was an abuse of the position of trust that she had been placed in at the school and a betrayal of the whole school community."
What!?

You didn’t ‘work in conjunction with the pupils’ at all! They did your job for you!

14 comments:

Furor Teutonicus said...

while Olajumoke Ajadi was cleaning.

ANOTHER one to add to my list of "Good old English criminal names".

There DOES appear to be a pattern forming here.

Jiks said...

I don't know how she got away with it TBH. The child I mean, obviously, not the thief.

Filming like that, invading the thief's right to privacy and in a school? Good grief girl, you could have been banged up for years!

Also, the non-sentence, very impressive Mr Judge, that will be hude detererant I'm sure ><.

Chuckles said...

FT, Yes those frolicking Presbyterians again.

Clearly, nothing but an Apple product could have done the job as cleanly and neatly. And the police? Well I'm sure they ticked all the right boxes, it's just that there aren't any boxes for 'collect evidence', 'solve case' and 'arrest suspect'.
Or perhaps the multicultural suspect diversity quota for the month hade been filled

JuliaM said...

@FurorTeutonicus: Could be!

@Jiks:If it hadn't been a girl taking the photos, I wonder if she'd have tried the 'peeping tom' angle?

@Chuckles: No, only Apple has the answer... ;)

microdave said...

"Working in conjunction with the school and pupils, police found irrefutable evidence of theft against Ajadi."

Translation:

Police initially did bugger all, in case they were accused of racism. However when shown the video they HAD to move.

The teenager is going to be a marked person now from now on....

English Viking said...

Yet more evidence of the crucial contribution immigrants are making to the economy. Just where would we be without them?

TDK said...

She'd have got away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids.

Chuckles said...

However, we may deduce from the experimental evidence given that while an Apple may be an effective medico repellent, it is not initially an effective prophylactic against school cleaners.
An indirect action however was recorded, (as was the cleaner), so it appears to be somewhat effective with outside agents.

More research is needed.

KenS said...

From her hidden location the girl caught Ajadi on film taking £100 from a handbag at the girls’ school

expensive school dinners they have at that school.....

PJH said...

I was lucky to have 5 quid on me when I was at school - why are these 'kids' carrying £100+?

Even these days, unless I'm going to the pub, I rarely have more than £50 in ready cash on me. Are the banks really that untrustworthy?

And, it also begs the question, how much pocket money are these kids getting these days?

JuliaM said...

@TDK: LOL!

Greencoat said...

English Viking:
'Yet more evidence of the crucial contribution immigrants are making to the economy. Just where would we be without them?'

Yes, they're stealing the stuff the British won't steal themselves.

blueknight said...

But, - the Police cannot film covertly without obtaining a Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIPA) authority, which came in on the back of the human Rights Act.
It requires hoops to be jumped through, forms to be filled and a (politically correct)Senior Officer somewhere to make a decision.
Sorry to say that if the Senior Officer had got wind of the fact that the suspect was an ethnic, there would be much 'erring on the side of caution'.
And if the Police had asked one of the school girls to do the filming, they would be in the realms of a 'Covert Human Resource'which requires in even more checks and authorities....
Thanks to the girl who was able to do what the Police would need signed permission to do
No thanks to Nu-labor, for creating bureaucracy and red tape since 1997

banned said...

What sort of fool left £100 lying about in the first place, in a school with a recent history of theft?

Anyway, good for her.

microdave, your translation is faultless.