'Twice burgled' Grimsby homeowner gets police apology
A man whose unattended house was burgled because police failed to secure the property after an earlier break-in has received an apology.
Mark Whiting was working away from his home in Grimsby when thieves broke in and left with bags of goods.
Humberside Police were called to the scene, but then left to deal with an emergency elsewhere.
Thieves later returned to the insecure house. The force said it "fell below the level of service we aim to offer."
Mr Whiting said: "When I got back to the house last Friday I discovered the back door wide open and the side entrance gate had been kicked in.
"I had been burgled for the first time in my life .
"The police have told me that the unit dispatched got diverted to another incident.
"The case was immediately dropped and the police never went back to my house to check it was secure, which it wasn't.
"The back window was smashed and an internal lockable door had been kicked in.
"Because the property was insecure for four days there was another incident late on Wednesday where a witness saw somebody walking from my house with my TV."
In a statement, Humberside Police said: "Clearly when a report is received of a possible burglary in progress we aim to deploy officers immediately and in this instance police were sent to the address and an area search was conducted to locate possible suspects.
"Unfortunately it would seem that after the officers who initially attended the address were diverted to an emergency call elsewhere in Grimsby, follow-up inquiries at the premises were not made and the burglary was not therefore immediately discovered.
"This is not standard procedure and falls below the level of service we aim to offer our communities."