Jail raider steals visitor's belongings at Lewes Prison (From The Argus)
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Jail raider steals visitor's belongings at Lewes Prison
7:17am Wednesday 19th September 2012 in News By Ben Parsons, Crime Reporter
VICTIM: Anthea Constantino
A thief walked out of Category B Lewes Prison with the belongings of a woman who was visiting an inmate.
The light-fingered crook – whom victim Anthea Constantino believes was a fellow visitor – cleared out a locker at the prison reception.
Ms Constantino says CCTV was inadequate in the area where the theft took place.
The 39-year-old was visiting her partner in the prison on September 7 when she placed her belongings in the locker in a reception area.
She then left the key accidentally on the counter of the canteen area of the visiting hall.
She said that when another woman found it and asked people standing nearby whose it was, another woman claimed it as her own.
Ms Constantino, from Surrey, lost her driving licence, car and house keys, phone, cash and bank cards.
She also lost her passport, which she needed to use as identification to get into the prison.
She said: “Apparently in the locker room the camera didn’t look onto my locker.
“You would have thought in a prison security would be tight.
“The numbers of the lockers are written on the keys and then you find the CCTV isn’t there.
“The sympathy from the prison guards themselves was great, but the security staff didn’t want to know.”
A spokesman for the Prison Service said only: “This is a matter for the police.”
Police are understood to be hopeful that other CCTV footage recorded in the area could help them identify the culprit.
Sussex Police said in a statement: “Police are investigating the theft of a visitor’s belongings from a locker at Lewes Prison on Friday, September 7.
“It is believed that the thief picked up a key to the locker that the victim had left lying on a table while she visited an inmate and used it to access the locker, stealing a bag and the personal items contained in it.
“Police hope to obtain CCTV footage that will enable them to identify the offender.”
Comments(23)
cvs
says...
8:13am Wed 19 Sep 12
Crystal Ball
says...
8:32am Wed 19 Sep 12
john5001 wrote:Chameleon.
karma
Partly her own fault for leaving the key but hey, you're in a prison, so should watch your stuff.
Pitviper
says...
8:33am Wed 19 Sep 12
cvs wrote:Why are you being so nosey?
What was her partner in for?
GIVE UP
says...
8:39am Wed 19 Sep 12
cvs
says...
8:44am Wed 19 Sep 12
Pitviper wrote:A thirst for knowledge
cvs wrote:Why are you being so nosey?
What was her partner in for?
Dr.Draconian
says...
8:48am Wed 19 Sep 12
Then complains that her stuff gets nicked & that the security staff were not very sympathetic......bim
bo.
Old Ladys Gin
says...
8:52am Wed 19 Sep 12
Pitviper
says...
9:52am Wed 19 Sep 12
cvs wrote:or a nose in everybodys business that's not warranted, what her partner is in for is really not relevant to this story.
Pitviper wrote:A thirst for knowledgecvs wrote: What was her partner in for?Why are you being so nosey?
kopite_rob
says...
10:19am Wed 19 Sep 12
funkyyoyo
says...
10:43am Wed 19 Sep 12
Vigilia
says...
11:54am Wed 19 Sep 12
Prisons are alleged to attract some very dishonest people.
puddingandpi
says...
2:08pm Wed 19 Sep 12
Hove Actually
says...
3:15pm Wed 19 Sep 12
hahahahahahaHahahaha
hahahahahahahahahaha
hahaHahahahahahahaha
hahahahahahahahaHaha
hahahahahahahahahaha
hahahahaHahahahahaha
hahahahahahahahahaha
Telscombe Cliffy
says...
5:36pm Wed 19 Sep 12
kopite_rob wrote:Precisely!
Considering every visitor in was logged and time out would have also been logged, it's not going to be too taxing to work out who the culprit is!
Old Ladys Gin
says...
5:51pm Wed 19 Sep 12
Sophie, Surrey
says...
6:49pm Wed 19 Sep 12
Old Ladys Gin wrote:Perhaps she might have expected a certain amount of law, order and supervision while under their roof as a visitor? Had she got raped would that have been her fault too? If you're not safe under the beady eye of a prison guard, when are you?
What was this individual expecting when she visited a prison; perhaps a convent?
Old Ladys Gin
says...
7:29pm Wed 19 Sep 12
Perhaps the irony is lost on you?
boblat
says...
8:38pm Wed 19 Sep 12
inell''?
Must have been a stranger??
sdhgfhfuyt
says...
9:12pm Wed 19 Sep 12
/ \
II
II
Retards
Sophie, Surrey
says...
10:45am Thu 20 Sep 12
Skidrow
says...
11:24am Thu 20 Sep 12
So where is the picture of the perpetrator coming from?
Einstein's daughter leaves the key to her locker in a room full of people visiting prisoners, you know, dishonest people. Some may say that lacked care. She doesn't check when someone shouts out anyone lost a key. If she doesn't look after her own stuff why should anyone else?
Perhaps Plod have better things to do than interview every visitor on the offchance they may admit nicking mrs careless' stuff.
Sophie, Surrey
says...
4:07pm Thu 27 Sep 12
A prison is an environment where, if anywhere, the rule of law can be rigorously enforced. There are prison guards as well as security guards, there is 24 hour CCTV. This woman had every right to expect that her visit would be safe.
I really object to the assumption several posters make that anyone who visits a prison must therefore be of bad character themselves. The thief or thieves here clearly were, but there's no suggestion that the victim, Ms Constantino, is anything other than a young woman who's been robbed.
What gets me is *how* she was robbed in a place where security should be so tight that such a thing couldn't happen. Has anyone else noticed that the story makes plain that the police have even been given the CCTV footage yet? Why not?
Theft is a crime wherever it happens and the prison authorities should have handed the CCTV records to the police immediately. They have no more right to hang on to them than does a shopping mall. If the prison doesn't co-operate fully and quickly with the police I suspect this case has the makings of a scandal.
john5001 says...
8:01am Wed 19 Sep 12