Thug jailed for stealing two hairless cats and other items

NEWS AND COMMENT-BARNSLEY, UK: He is a father which I think compounds the problem. His name is Jordan Reynolds-Walsh and he's been convicted of burglary. He targeted two properties in the Goldthorpe area of Barnsley, UK.

Jordan Reynolds-Walsh. Photo: Yorkshire Live.

A woman was told by the police that her property had been broken into. She is the owner of two Sphynx cats. When she returned to her home she soon noticed that her two cats were missing as well as white goods and power tools.

The next day she saw two men carrying large bags from a house in Cooperative Street, Barnsley, to a Carr House flat. The police searched the Carr House flat. They found power tools and bank cards in the name of the victim. They also found the burglar's ID amongst the items.

They found one Sphynx cat in the bathroom and the second had been hidden behind a bath panel. Both were returned to their owner. He had left a can of larger with his fingerprints on it in the property! That convicted him.

Reynolds-Walsh had burgled another property earlier. He had ransacked a house in Cooperation Street on July 22 and stole a variety of items including a ring with sentimental value. He had smashed the door to the home. The repair charges were £1000.

Reynolds-Walsh admitted his crimes. The lawyer defending him said that he had lost his job as a scaffolder (scaffolder's are the worst form of human life by the way). His life had "spiralled out of control" and he had turned to drink and drugs. That was the statement in mitigation against his sentence which was two years and two months in prison.

The interesting aspect of this story is the theft of two rare purebred cats. On purely financial level they were worth stealing because the combined value is probably around £2000 or thereabouts. The difficulty he had, in his carelessness, was how to deal with them. How to care for them pending their sale? And because they are very noticeable it would be very difficult to sell them. It could be done but I would think that it would raise suspicions in the purchaser.

And of course they would be vulnerable to harm as they were in the care of this criminal for a while who had no idea how do care for them. The story does highlight, however, the value of purebred companion animals. I suspect that many more valuable pets are stolen than people are aware of in the UK. Dogs are particularly at risk.  The UK has deteriorated in recent years in respect of an increase in crime thanks largely to the ineffectiveness of the police and the lack of trust they have engendered through their own well-publicised criminality.

I live near Richmond Park, a famous and beautiful park in Surrey. There is currently a poster attached to the railings at Ham Gate, one of the entrances to the park that I frequently use. The poster contains a plea to find a dachshund dog lost their a while ago. It is highly likely that the dog was stolen. Dog owners let their dogs off the lead in the park which can be irresponsible because they harass the deer. There is also the risk that if they end up out of sight of their owner, which is entirely possible, they can be stolen by another user in the park who casually befriends the dog and then takes them home.