The South Glos Post

South Gloucestershire police have launched Rural Watch across South Gloucestershire.

The aim is to offer support to farmers, stables and rural households to combat crime, improve their security and encourage them to report anything suspicious to police.

More than 100 members of existing Farm Watch and Horse Watch schemes and those who have recently suffered from crime will be offered a security survey by specialist officers.

The local neighbourhood team also offer a property marking service for the top five most commonly stolen pieces of equipment: quad bikes, mowers/strimmers, chainsaws, electric fence power units and tack.

Those who sign up for Rural Watch will also get updates whenever a crime is reported for their area through the Neighbourhood Watch Ringmaster system.

Neighbourhood Inspector Deryck Rees is co-ordinating the initiative. He said: “We know that thieves will travel to rural areas to target isolated outbuildings and premises, stealing quad bikes and power tools.

“Rural Watch is just one of the ways we’re tackling the problem. We’re targeting our patrols and working with neighbouring forces as well as liaising with the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).”

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Source: Avon and Somerset Police

Nearly on year on since the tragic death of father and grandfather Barry Rubery detectives working to locate his killers are appealing to the public for their help.

Barry, 69, was brutally attacked outside his Iron Acton home on Wednesday 28th April 2010. Detectives know he had been out with friends that evening and returned to Crossing cottage at around 10:45pm, he was found with significant head injuries the morning after.

Investigations have continued since and the family of Mr Rubery have made numerous appeals for information to locate the killers.

His daughter Julie Rubery said: “I cannot believe that nearly twelve months down the line we are still in this position, the person who took our father and the children’s grandfather from them is still out. We cannot begin to move on with our lives until we find out why this happened.”

Philip Rubery added: “We would urge anyone who has any information and has not spoken to the police to come forward and speak to them. We want to know why dad was killed so that we can try to fully move on with our lives.”

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Source: Avon and Somerset Police

Police have issued an appeal for the public’s help to find a vulnerable missing man in the South Gloucestershire area.

Peter Rowell aged 52 years of Wickwar, was last seen this morning at about 8:30am, when he left home for work as normal.

He did not turn up for work and concern increased when he could not be contacted.

Peter parked his car at Morrison’s supermarket in Yate.

Mr Rowell is described as a white man with white/silver coloured hair. He is 5ft 10ins of stocky build. He is possibly wearing brown coloured jeans and a white shirt.

He is thought to be depressed, following the death of a close relative.

The missing man is well known in the Bristol area through his job as an afternoon presenter on BBC Radio Bristol. He previously worked for GWR Radio and ITV West (formerly HTV West).

Police would like Peter, or anyone spotting him to contact them. Anyone with information is asked to contact Staple Hill police station on 0845 4567000 or call the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Source: Avon and Somerset Police

Avon and Somerset police have just launched a new online service for victims of crime.

TrackMyCrime allows ‘victims’ to track the progress of their crime as it’s investigated by police officers, by providing access to information extracted from police systems.

Deputy Chief Constable Rob Beckley said: “We’ve introduced TrackMyCrime to keep victims informed about the status of their crime in a more streamlined and efficient way. It combines policing with modern technology and gives victims more choice about how they want to receive information from us.”

The system will revolutionise the service that victims receive. It will cut the time spent waiting for police officers to call them back about their crime as they will automatically be updated either by e-mail or text as officers fill in information on police computers.

Victims can also send messages back to the investigation team and view information about their stolen or damaged property.

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Source: Avon and Somerset Police