In Britain, the police sided with the thief and refused to return the stolen goods (3 photos)

If we used to snort at British scientists, now their place is confidently being taken by the British police.





In short, the situation there was like this. Melvin Mainwaring woke up at his home in Pennington Terrace in Abergele and discovered that while he was peacefully sleeping, his home had been robbed. They took his phone, bank cards and bus pass. They didn’t even spare the bus pass, the villains.

Melvin, as a law-abiding citizen, went to the police. There they accepted the statement, shook his hand and said that as soon as the criminal was caught, they would immediately inform him about it. Returning the stolen goods seemed unrealistic. But it turned out that the robber was a serial. After some time, he robbed the Broadway Hotel in Llandudno, and a few weeks later broke into an apartment in Ros-on-Sea.



Broadway Hotel in Llandudno, Gwynedd, Wales.

In short, they managed to detain the scoundrel, he turned out to be 33-year-old Daniel Reed. When they searched him, they also found Melvin's missing phone, but Reed himself claimed that the phone was now his property, because he had used it, including storing his photos on it.

North Wales Police, scratching their heads, agreed with the criminal's arguments and refused to return the stolen device to Mr. Mainwaring, arguing that this would violate Reed's rights under the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).



Daniel Reed.

Melvin was taken aback by this and went to Caernarfon Crown Court. They said, this won't work, the phone is mine, I still pay £18 a month for it under my current contract, despite the fact that the device is in the possession of the police. The court agreed with the victim's arguments, emphasizing the absurdity of the situation when the rights of the criminal are put above the rights of the victim.

The phone was returned to the man, but the thief was still jailed for 3 years.