Suspected bogus policeman charged with pensioner burglaries - The Solihull Observer

Suspected bogus policeman charged with pensioner burglaries

Solihull Editorial 14th Oct, 2015 Updated: 21st Oct, 2016   0

A MAN suspected of posing as a police officer to trick his way into pensioners’ homes has been arrested in Cheswick Green.

Jason Fellowes, from Stechford, has been remanded into prison after being charged with four counts of burglary.

The 38-year-old was arrested yesterday morning (October 13) in Coppice Walk by West Midlands Police officers investigating a series of distraction burglaries in south Birmingham.

It is alleged Fellowes stole £300 from an address in Fairfax Road, West Heath, on July 24 and pocketed a wallet containing £140 from a man in Wychall Lane, Kings Norton, on September 21.




Fellowes has been charged for the burglary of a home in Welsh House Farm Road, Quinton, on October 5 when £600 was stolen. He has also been accused for an incident two days later in Warstock Lane, Kings Heath, when a woman lost £200. The victims are aged between 68 and 83-years-old.

Fellowes is due to appear before Birmingham Crown Court on December 11.


Sgt Sandy Thompson, from the Birmingham south burglary team, said: “We have seen a number of burglaries where an offender has purported to be a plain-clothes detective and briefly flashed some sort of ID badge.

“If anyone turns up at your door claiming to be a police officer – or any other type of official – and asks to go inside you should always ask for their name, where they are from, and see a form of identification.”

Sgt Thompson added people should not be afraid to scrutinise an ID badge or to keep someone locked outside the house while they phoned whatever organisation they claimed to be from.

In the case of the police residents can call 101 to check if someone is a genuine officer.

“Genuine callers will not mind waiting until you verify their credentials,” she said.

Visit www.west-midlands.police.uk/saferhomes/distraction_burglary/index.htm for more information on how to guard against bogus callers.

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