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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to find this so sad

50 replies

Titterofwit · 28/08/2017 21:25

Watching 999 whats your emergency just now.
The first call out is for a burglary still in progress. The police turn up and find a skinny older man lurking downstairs and a very scared young woman upstairs still on the phone to the police. They reassure her that they are present and start sorting out the man. Turns out he is in possession of a few bits out of her food cupboard and freezer.

I know,I know. He is a criminal and needs to be punished . The poor lady in her bedroom must have been terrified.I know I would have been hysterical .

But . But all he was after was food . And only in an amount for personal use and not enough to sell.

I feel so sorry for anyone being driven to commit a crime just to eat. (I shouldnt need to say this but obviously my main concern is for the poor victim.)

How have we come to this?

OP posts:
BlondeB83 · 28/08/2017 21:27

It's very sad but we do live in a country where there are other options than breaking into someone's house and scaring them half to death.

Voyager1 · 28/08/2017 21:28

Agreed. It is utterly shameful in this day and age, one of the world's richest nations. It's Dickensian.

intergalacticbrexitdisco · 28/08/2017 21:29

I find it sad that he has probably scarred a woman mentally for life when he could have nicked his stuff from the local BP if it were so bad.

CrowChe · 28/08/2017 21:29

There are food banks for that.

StillDrivingMeBonkers · 28/08/2017 21:30

You need to be referred to a food bank, contrary to myth you cant just swan in and ask for a bag of shopping. And you can only be referred three times.

ineedamoreadultieradult · 28/08/2017 21:32

If someone has to steal to eat (which if true is disgusting) then there are ways to do it without making someone scared in their own home. Steal from a shop, eat at a restaurant/cafe then leave without paying etc. All still crimes and all still have a victim (there are no victimless crimes) but at least you wouldn't be invading someone's home which can be devastating. I mean if you are really desperate just get caught and you will get 3 meals a day in prison.

CastIronCookware · 28/08/2017 21:36

stilldriving. There are other options to Trussell Trust food banks - there are at least three "open" foodbanks in my local area (a small rural town) which have fresh food and groceries for anyone to take away - no referral, just turn up and help yourself.

The local supermarkets donate their unwanted food to these schemes (Trussell Trust won't take it) and a lot of the time, the food is thrown away by the community centre/church because there's just too much.

Ttbb · 28/08/2017 21:41

We live in a very generous welfare state. If he is resorting to stealing the fault is e rudely his own.

Ttbb · 28/08/2017 21:41

*entirely

CastIronCookware · 28/08/2017 21:41

And I wouldn't be quite so quick to excuse the burglar - he may have had the contents of her cupboard, but what exactly did he have?
most experienced burglars know about these, for instance:

AIBU to find this so sad
PurpleDaisies · 28/08/2017 21:44

I find it sad that he has probably scarred a woman mentally for life when he could have nicked his stuff from the local BP if it were so bad.

I totally agree with this.

mogulfield · 28/08/2017 21:46

We do live in a very generous welfare state, I realised this after living in America, where you get fuck all.
There's lots you can do before resorting to crime and terrifying people in their homes. I've been skint (more than skint) and sold stuff/worked terrible jobs/borrowed off friends/claimed JSA.

EdmundCleverClogs · 28/08/2017 21:46

We live in a very generous welfare state

Gosh, where do you live? Because here in Britain, 'generous' is certainly not the word I'd use.

mogulfield · 28/08/2017 21:49

Comparitively. Look at what America give, seriously go and look.
In fact look at most countries.

Original poster
Titterofwit · 28/08/2017 21:50

One of the policemen dealing with the burglary said that as there are no cctv cameras or security personell in houses its a better option than stealing from shops.

I do deal with benefits and help people every day with claims. Its not
a generous system these days and although some places are well served with food banks this is sadly not the case across the country.

Often people say to me that they will have to go and steal to live as they cant wait another 4 weeks for a payment. Or they may not have the wherewithal to apply for a hardship advance.

It used to be said people are 2 pay packets away from the poorhouse.
I fear that its now only one paypacket and that makes me scared ,sad and fearful.

OP posts:
ineedamoreadultieradult · 28/08/2017 21:50

Edmund compared to other countries Britain still has a generous welfare state maybe not as generous as it was but still a hell of a lot better than a lot of places.

EdmundCleverClogs · 28/08/2017 21:53

I don't need to 'look at other countries' to think there's not enough help in this one. Added to the fact that what little 'welfare' there is, is currently being chipped away to nothing. The poor, underprivileged and disabled in this country are treated like money grabbing scum, it's shocking. Then there's this ridiculous mentality that everyone has 'things to sell' or people to borrow from Hmm.

mogulfield · 28/08/2017 21:57

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37159686
We are second in his study to only Japan, and it looks as though they're including some kind of pension payment in with there's.
Ignore the rest of the world if you wish edmund

I was saying what I did when I was skint, I did borrow and I did sell stuff. All those things were preferable to me than crime.

AllToadsLeadToHome · 28/08/2017 21:59

I once saw a man on his knees going through someone's bin in their garden for food. He lived under the flyover by the shopping centre, there were several men who would sleep there and people would leave food and drink next to them.

Sometimes they just aren't able to ask for help, don't know how, have no English, MH issues. It doesn't excuse what he did but he must have been desperate, possibly an 'illegal' maybe escaped from somewhere, prison, another country and afraid.

This is the reason I donate to the Whitechapel Mission.

LuLuuuuuuu · 28/08/2017 22:00

The milk of human kindness from some on here Hmm

PeppaPigTastesLikeBacon · 28/08/2017 22:02

It's difficult to decide. I think it's shit that people are in the situation that stealing is their only option but breaking into someone's house really is a horrid crime. I know that I would definitely have to move if someone had broken into my home. I just wouldn't feel safe.

KoolKoala07 · 28/08/2017 22:03

Yabu that poor woman was terrified and will be for a long long time, if not for the rest of her life.

justbinthefeckinbyebyebox · 28/08/2017 22:07

At the end of the programme it said that
he went to prison for burglary.
So he was a criminal.

ineedamoreadultieradult · 28/08/2017 22:10

So he will have housing and 3 meals a day. I know if I was ever in a situation where I was homeless and hungry I'd choose prison over that in a heartbeat.

EdmundCleverClogs · 28/08/2017 22:10

mogulfield, some (many) people don't have the options that were available to you though. They have nothing. 'Jsa' as it were is barely enough to survive on, you can be sanctioned for anything and then you're really screwed, most people already live hand to mouth and the availability of jobs is minimal. Why would I look at other countries when people are suffering and starving in this one today. It's not even about benefits - if you have a job, you're on your own even if it doesn't pay enough, even 'professional jobs'.

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