Car theft victim 'astounded' as Sussex police close case

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-39119274

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A motorist whose £40,000 Jaguar car was stolen from his driveway has said he is "astounded" after police said they would be closing the case.

Kevin Standing's vehicle was taken from his home in Patcham, East Sussex, on Saturday morning. It did not have a tracker and there was no CCTV evidence.

He said he had wrongly assumed an officer would visit him, but he was told there were no lines of inquiry.

Sussex Police said they focused on crimes that "cause most harm".

Mr Standing said he received a letter from the force on Tuesday saying the "investigation was closed" and to check the CCTV footage of local garages.

"It basically says to car thieves in Sussex, 'carry on stealing cars because there's very little chance you're going to get caught'," he said.

Ch Insp Bruce Mathews said proportionate inquiries had been completed.

"Our investigations teams focuses its efforts on the crimes which cause the most harm.

"Operating with new demands against a shrinking budget, we can't do everything but that doesn't mean we will be ruling out certain types of crime such as shoplifting or vehicle crime.

"We will continue to do so where there are lines of inquiry."

The force said a marker had been placed on the vehicle to bring it to the attention of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras.