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Original poster

Biggest ever Bank Robbery - Does anyone care

57 replies

trix1 · 02/03/2006 15:24

Whilst I sympathaise with the family who were taken hostage, this happens to people up and down the country every week and do the police brek their necks to catch the criminals. Im sick of hearing about this robbery, what about the rapists and murderers and those who abuse children or attack old vulnerable people. I would rather hear on the news what we as a nation are doing to combat that.

Am I alone here but Im fed up of hearing about this robbery.

OP posts:
HRHQueenOfQuotes · 02/03/2006 16:11

and lets not forget - as yet we don't know if these people that have been charged have a 'history' of ciminal activity - I (personally) would be suprised if they were 'clean' before this and surely by getting them into police custody we're not just taking the perpetrators of this robbery off the streets, but also 'criminals' in general off the streets.

They didn't just threaten the lifes of this one family - they also tied up 14 members of staff - staff they could easily have shot.

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 02/03/2006 16:12

PMSL - sorry LGJ - you had me choking on my coffee there, I know it's serious business and all that, but "They didn't get it in the Christmas pudding or even from mugging old ladies" is a classic.

LadySherlockofLGJ · 02/03/2006 16:16

Grin Thanks QoQ

hunkermunker · 02/03/2006 16:33

I would rather watch news that carried more stories, and stories from around the world (and not just "there's a war where our soldiers are, coincidence, we think not" type stories) - but I still think that robberies involving threat to human life and vast sums of money that is hardly going to be given to the poor a la Robin Hood are newsworthy.

charliecat · 02/03/2006 16:34

I live in Tunbridge Wells and the place has been crawling with police since this happened, herds of them everywhere. Before this you would maybe see one police man a month....
They didnt kill the family, or beat them up..I know they terrorised them but it could have been a lot worse.
Worst things have happened to people over absoulty nothing.

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 02/03/2006 16:39

so are you saying that if your family was tied up and threatened with death you'd rather they didn't treat it as seriously as if they actually beat them up or killed them?

I think the fact of whether anyone was actually hurt is irrelevant. A family was kidnapped, tied up and had guns pointed at them. If that doesn't warrant a serious response then IMO there's something wrong.

tiredemma · 02/03/2006 16:45

could any of you imagine your child in the same situation as the 8 yr old boy? my son would literally die of fright. that in itself makes it serious to me.

LadySherlockofLGJ · 02/03/2006 16:46

It is bad enough holding people at gun point, and lets not forget there was a 9 year old boy held at gun point as well. FGS where do you all think the £53 million was destined for ??

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 02/03/2006 16:48

TBH I think the day we start saying "well this crime is worse than that, so should have more money spent on it" is a sad one. Surely all crime is bad??

People are traumatised to some degree or another by crime, whether it's a brutal attack, or someone smashing their car windows.

Lio · 02/03/2006 16:51

I care.

charliecat · 02/03/2006 16:56

No but if they do catch them im sure their sentences will be a lot lot lot worse than if they had raped a baby, or an old woman, or kicked someones head in on a friday night and think any of those 3 things deserve a longer sentence, but that wont happen.

LadySherlockofLGJ · 02/03/2006 16:59

I agree that sentencing is not always what it should be, but at the risk of repeating myself what do you think they were going to do with the money ??

misdee · 02/03/2006 17:02

i care, because when i see lorries on the M25 with 'NO 50MILLION IN HERE' its rather distracting......

charliecat · 02/03/2006 17:04

I think they were gonna spend it...quietly move away and have a nice life. Or an I on a different planet.

LadySherlockofLGJ · 02/03/2006 17:06

I think you might be a bit naive, one of the guys they are holding has done time for some sort of scam involving credit card and cars.

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 02/03/2006 17:07

your on a different planet charlie hate to disappoint Smile.

And besides I thought this was about the police side of things, not the sentencing??? Confused

charliecat · 02/03/2006 17:08

Yep, he was a car salesman, have you ever met an entirely honest one? My dad used to be a dodgy one and he used to build the sides of cars out of baked bean cans lol

LadySherlockofLGJ · 02/03/2006 17:08

Have to go to Parent Teacher Meeting will check back later.

WideWebWitch · 02/03/2006 17:09

I feel desperately sorry for that 9yo boy and his mother, it must have been very traumatic. And god knows how much that Securicor manager (his father) was paid, but it's not enough if that's what happens to your child. I'm pissed off with the way The Observer called it a 'heist', like it was in some Tarantino film and all glam, not a horrible crime that affected a family. I do think we've prob got sentencing priorities wrong when stealing money is considered worse than rape/murder/various other things.

tiredemma · 02/03/2006 17:13

how could you "quietly" spend 53 million quid?

they already had a nice life, he was a multi millionaire and already had nice cars, nice home, nice hols.

im no crime expert but i have a snagging feeling that rather than kitting the family out in designer gear for the rest of their lives- this money would be used for drugs, terrorism etc. Not private apartments on the Costa Del Sol.

Original poster
trix1 · 02/03/2006 18:09

Ive maybe worded this wrong but what I meant was why is this case getting so much more publicity than any other?

Has anyone heard of the man who was randomly stopped in his van yesterday by an attacker in Oxfordshire and had his legs hacked with a chainsaw, doctors are now trying to save his legs.

I dont particularly think that the people who carried out this robbery will go on to spend the money on terrorism or drugs.

But as mentioned before the culprits will get a much heavier sentence than that of a murderer, child rapist, someone who beats up old people.

Its all wrong in my opinion, worse crimes than this are committed where innocent people get killed and slaughtered and not so much resource goes into catching them.

For the record I do NOT condone what these criminals have done either.

OP posts:
HRHQueenOfQuotes · 02/03/2006 18:38

I don't believe it is getting much more than any other. In January (December??) there was loads about the 6yr old abducted from her bath.

When Jessica and Holly were murdered there was reams of stuff on the news.

I'm presuming you live in Oxfordshire - and \link{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/4764384.stm\this} story was on your local news.

The actual police statement is \link{http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/news/default.asp?dismode=article&artid=5878\here}

and If you think the police aren't doing anything to investigate crimes in your area perhaps you should look at the 'news' section on your local police website.......

4blue1pink · 02/03/2006 18:41

not here

MeerkatsUnite · 03/03/2006 07:23

Trix1,

I read about that attack in Oxfordshire yesterday. It has received publicity in various newspapers and online.

When it comes to armed robbery many people think primarily of Ronnie Biggs and his gang of villains from another age. Its not like that at all.

No-one was killed thankfully in the Tonbridge robbery but these people were well armed and would in all likelihood have been prepared to use their firearms if people resisted. As it is the family will now have to spend the rest of their lives in the Witness Protection Program and assume new lives and identities elsewhere. The child has already been removed from school and to all intents and purposes they have disappeared.

I guess as well, unlike myself, you've never had a gun pointed at you either in the course of a building society robbery so you have understandably no idea of the trauma involved.

The police have recovered some of the cash stolen (around £30m). If you do not think that the remainder could possibly end up in the hands of money launderers in the Balkans who will use same to operate drug running, extortion, fund terrorist activities or people trafficking (to name but four) then you are mistaken at best and naive at worst. It will not be all used on living the high life; its more likely to be end up being used to fund organised crime - which ultimately affects society as a whole.

MeerkatsUnite · 03/03/2006 07:31

"Its all wrong in my opinion, worse crimes than this are committed where innocent people get killed and slaughtered and not so much resource goes into catching them".

Trix1 - I honestly don't understand know how you can possibly assert this. Its simply not the case at all. Just because many murder cases are not reported at such length after a few weeks does not mean to say there's somehow less resources being employed or not so much investigation being carried out. Police can and do make arrests quickly in some murder cases - they're already questionning a 14 year old boy regarding the murder of an 11 year old.

Millie Dowler's investigation is still ongoing as is the murder of Sallie Ann Bowman to name but two.