A BUCKLAND St Mary man who has seen more than £8,000 worth of equipment stolen from his site has slammed police after they didn’t even visit the crime scene.

Anthony Norton was part way through a rebuild of Hill Cottage when thieves struck in the early hours of Valentines Day.

His site manager called Avon and Somerset to report the incident when he arrived at the site shortly after 9am.

When Mr Norton called police to provide more details, he was told by police staff that they would not be investigating.

“They took a large diesel cement mixer, 50 litres of diesel, torches, levels, clothing, first aid kits, fire extinguishers, all sorts of stuff,” said Mr Norton.

“There must have been three or four of them but that is what it took us to get the cement mixer in. You can see they used a 4x4 with very distinctive tyre treads.

“They were really big off road ones, almost like a Pimp My Ride type thing.

“They have also got a trailer, which is a single axle and you can see that has odd tyres as well.”

While Mr Norton is angered by the burglary, he said it is worse that police haven’t even been out to see him.

He added: “It frustrates me beyond belief. The site manager phoned up the police and they couldn’t even be bothered to come and have a look.

“You can see they have made two trips within three or four hours, so they can’t be far away.”

Mr Norton said he has even been out to try and find the culprits and being left feeling abandoned by the police.

One of the builders working the site, who had to go a day without pay as a result of the theft, even said they saw someone drive past slowly in a red Land Rover Discovery a few days before.

Mr Norton called police again but they still wouldn’t visit.

He added: “I am just bitterly disappointed in the complete lack of response from the police. I can see why rural crime is going up.

“It is not just that they are not catching someone, it is that they are not even trying.”

A police spokesman said the burglary was assessed by a specialist investigator and ‘due to there being no obvious lines of enquiry, no further action was taken’.

Inspector Elaine Costanza added: “I fully appreciate the effect burglaries can have on victims and we will always investigate cases where there is a realistic chance of obtaining justice.

“Unfortunately, we no longer have the numbers we used to and this, combined with increased levels of demand across our force area, sometimes means we have to make difficult decisions.

“There wasn’t any CCTV, there were no known witnesses and the scene did not meet the criteria to be forensically examined. No case is ever closed and should information come to light we will assess it and if appropriate, take proportionate action.”