A woman who was conned into mailing an expensive coat to a bogus buyer has thanked Nottinghamshire Police after the matter was quickly resolved.
Natasha Harris, 29, of East London, contacted the force after a Nottingham man failed to pay for a coat she had sold him online.
Natasha mailed the designer Moose Knuckles coat after the man claimed he had sent her the agreed funds – £500 – via a mobile payment service called Cash App.
He convinced her funds were on the way after messaging her a receipt – but the document was a fake.
PC Dean Lewis, of the Nottingham City Centre neighbourhood policing team, investigated the report and arrested a suspect, who admitted responsibility.
The matter was subsequently dealt with by the ‘Restorative Justice’ process, which gives victims the chance to communicate with their offender to explain the real impact of the crime. It also holds offenders to account for what they have done and helps them to take responsibility and make amends.
In this case, the offender apologised to the woman and paid her the agreed sum of £500.
Ms Harris wrote to Nottinghamshire Police to thank PC Lewis for his efforts.
She said in an email: “I just wanted to say a huge thank you to PC Dean Lewis. The constant contact and care that went into my case were absolutely amazing, I never would have thought something like this would have been resolved as quickly as it was.
“Having a small family, this sum of money that we were scammed out of was a big deal to us, it was going to help see us through the rest of the month and pay for essentials.
“PC Lewis not only went above and beyond to keep me updated in the case but managed to get a full payment back for me.
“From start to finish, he has been fantastic and showed that a case like mine, no matter how big or small, is taken care of with the utmost care and respect to the victim.
“My family and I will forever be grateful.”
PC Lewis was also thanked by another victim for his work on a separate investigation.
A Nottingham woman called the police after her sofa was stolen by a neighbour as she and her partner were in the process of moving house.
The sofa was in a hallway when the neighbour saw an opportunity and dragged it into his own property, damaging the sofa in the process.
Again, PC Lewis investigated and a 24-year-old man was arrested for theft by finding.
The offender admitted the offence and was given a community resolution order, whereby he had to issue a formal apology to the woman and pay her £200 to cover the repair costs.
The woman was satisfied with the outcome and also thanked PC Lewis in an email, writing: “I know I mentioned it before, but we are both really grateful for your help and really appreciate the work you’ve put into resolving this.
“(The case) may have only been considered small in the grand scheme of things but it had a huge impact on our lives and you made things much less stressful.”
Sergeant Richard Tiernan, of the City Centre neighbourhood policing team, said he was pleased to learn about the positive feedback.
He said: “Theft has a terrible impact on victims and that is why our officers work hard to track down offenders and achieve positive outcomes.
“I would like to thank the victims in these cases for their kind words about PC Lewis. I am glad their experience of policing in Nottingham has been a positive one.”
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