A very strange occurence.

[neptune]

I was out on my daily 10 mile exercise run on my pedal bike. I biked 5 miles east into a stiff breeze and was looking forward to a rest on a park bench near the church in a local village . I approach this bench by riding along a footpath for 100metres alongside the main road.I noticed a young girl meeting me on the path, so I pulled into the entrance of a drive to let her pass. To my surprise she stopped. She asked me if I could give her some money , as she was thirsty, and was walking to Peterborough which was about 40 miles away.
I was unsure what to do, because if her story was true, I did not like to think of her as being in that situation without a drink. I had no change so I gave her £5. She said she was going to Peterborough to meet her brother. She did not know his address, only the town . Did her parents know where she was? She was not sure. She said she was 14, but looked more like 12.
We parted, and I sat down to rest. It occurred to me I had been conned, but I thought it was better to loose a fiver than refuse to help her. After 10 minutes I set off for home, by the main road . I thought that if she had conned me she would disappear into the village, and I would not see her again. However, I saw her again about a mile west of the village , in open country. She did not appear to be thumbing a lift .
By the time I got home, I decided to ring the police because I was deeply concerned for her safety, and if anything happened to her, I would have to live with it . The police said they would look for her. The big question is, did I handle this incident correctly?
If not, what would you have done differently?

 

[HD462]

Sounds like you did exactly the right thing. You made sure she had some money if her story was genuine, and also looked out fo her safety if she was a runaway. If she is conning people then the Police are alerted to it now, so either way you look at it, you did the right thing. Good on you!

Mark.

 

[flecc]

I think you did what you could in the circumstances, but can understand you not being sure. The fact is that there is no perfect answer in that difficult circumstance, especially since you are male which complicates the issue. Giving a young girl £5 could be misconstrued, so it's as well that you called the police to report the circumstances.

 

[neptune]

Thanks to both of you for your "vote of confidence" gentlemen. Yes I know exactly what you mean about the £5 flecc. One thing that helped from my point of view, was that the incident happened in full view of a main road, with plenty of passing traffic. I am quite sure that we are all willing to help others who are in trouble at some small cost to ourselves, but we must also be sharp enough and think fast enough, to avoid doing anything which could be misinterpreted. I am well known locally , and if this girl had disappeared, I would probably have been recognised as the last person she was seen with. That could have put me in a very precarious position. Another thing that I think is unfortunate is that you never get to hear what the outcome was.
I read of a case recently which is a good example of how to get in big trouble with the best of intentions. A man went in his garden one morning, which backs onto a public park, and found a dustbin bag which someone had thrown over his fence. On looking inside, he found a sawn off shotgun, and some live ammunition. He phoned the local police station, and made an appointment to meet the senior officer.At the appointed time , he went to the station, and was shown into the officers office. He took the gun out of the bag, and placed it on the desk, facing the wall. The officer immediately arrested him, and charged him with having an illegal firearm. When he appeared before the magistrate, he was told that this was an Absolute Offence, for which there is no defence in law. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. I think that the moral is "Look before you leap".

 

[flecc]

Yes, I remember that shotgun case well, and it highlights how one cannot depend on the police using any common sense. My experience is that they are only concerned with the letter of the law (except where they are personally concerned) and too often seizing opportunities to gain a conviction. In fairness that is partly the fault of parliament and the very silly way in which much modern law is drafted, leaving little room for manoeuvre by the police or the courts.

 

[lectureral]

I read of a case recently which is a good example of how to get in big trouble with the best of intentions. A man went in his garden one morning, which backs onto a public park, and found a dustbin bag which someone had thrown over his fence. On looking inside, he found a sawn off shotgun, and some live ammunition. He phoned the local police station, and made an appointment to meet the senior officer.At the appointed time , he went to the station, and was shown into the officers office. He took the gun out of the bag, and placed it on the desk, facing the wall. The officer immediately arrested him, and charged him with having an illegal firearm. When he appeared before the magistrate, he was told that this was an Absolute Offence, for which there is no defence in law. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. I think that the moral is "Look before you leap".

Like many of these stories the facts are less straightforward - in particular, he held onto the gun for four days - and the result was that he walked free rather than being imprisoned.

Gun find soldier walks free from court | This is Surrey

 

[funkylyn]

Like many of these stories the facts are less straightforward - in particular, he held onto the gun for four days - and the result was that he walked free rather than being imprisoned.

Gun find soldier walks free from court | This is Surrey

Puts a completely different slant on that story.....talk about 'oh what a tangled web we weave' lol

Lynda

 

[flecc]

Like many of these stories the facts are less straightforward - in particular, he held onto the gun for four days - and the result was that he walked free rather than being imprisoned.

Gun find soldier walks free from court | This is Surrey

But he was charged, he did receive a prison sentence, albeit suspended, but still with the accompanying criminal record showing a prison sentence. He didn't wait four days to report the gun, he tried throughout the four days, using a foolish method yes, but showing no intent whatsoever to hold onto the gun.

Commonsense indicates he should not have been charged, a police caution would have been more than adequate in the circumstances, such cautions often given for far more serious breaches of the law.

 

[neptune]

So this shotgun case was not as straight forward as it first appeared. I am pleased that he did not have to serve a prison sentence, but as flecc points out, he still has a criminal record. As so often, there was stuff going on behind the scenes that will never see that full light of day. The police are only human beings, and whilst they may behave professionally most of the time, they are not immune from the limitations of the human condition.