Criminal gardens - pilferage

Two women have been charged with pilfering from gardens in Central Scotland over two years. Police have charged two women after discovering a huge cache of garden gnomes in a sitting room!

They reportedly found least forty gnomes, hedgehogs, rabbits as well as stacked sets of garden furniture in a house in Alloa, central Scotland, in what they described as an Aladdin's cave of garden ornaments. They also discovered more than sixty plant pots, some containing plants, and twenty-five solar lights. The house was raided after gardeners in Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Falkirk complained that gnomes, hedgehogs and rabbits had gone missing and the discovery came after an eleven day police investigation into the spate of thefts.

‘Our task now is to identify who the items belong to and ensure they are given back to their rightful owners,’ a police spokesman was quoted as saying.

To prevent pilferage:

1. Make sure the perimeter is high enough so opportunists can't climb over it. If it isn't over 2 meters high the addition of a trellis with a climbing plant such as clematis will make it virtually impossible to climb over.
2. Keep gates shut. In crime prevention jargon a shut gate creates a 'defended space'. Psychologically a shut gate is more likely to deter someone than an open gate.
3. Keep power tools, mowers and other valuable items firmly secured in a garage. Wire the garage to your alarm system and make sure you add an alarm box to the garage so a burglar knows the alarm is also fitted to the garage.
4. For larger object like mowers you can secure them to a ground anchor - an immovable eye set in the floor.

Laughing gnome photograph by mystereys, used under a creative commons attribution licence

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