'When the police called me I thought they were kidding'

A change in GMP policy where officers now attend every reported burglary has been a catalyst for positive change writes NEAL KEELING

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MARY Murphy was devastated when her Fiat Punto was stolen after a nighttime break-in at her home.

She was one of several victims of a burglary spree in Ardwick.

But within an hour of discovering it was missing she had the vehicle back.

She is just one person to benefit from Greater Manchester Police taking burglary seriously. In three years, the number of offences across the region has fallen by a third.

After three burglaries in Ardwick police carried out a trawl of CCTV and identified a potential suspect.

An officer saw a woman matching the CCTV description getting onto the bus with a man.

He followed the pair onto the bus, asked for back up and stopped the bus.

A 55-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of burglary.

During the interview, she was interrogated and disclosed where Mary's car had been left. The suspect was later jailed for five years.

Mary said: "I didn't know the car was stolen until the morning, then I came down to the lobby (she lives in a block of flats) and someone said there had been a burglary.

"One of my friends turned around to me and said 'Mary your car has gone! "I was left in shock.

"I was over the moon to get it back.

"When the police phoned me I thought they were kidding. I can't tell you how happy I was. It wasn't even a quarter of a mile away." Chief Constable, Stephen Watson, who took over in 2021 identified the crime as one which had slid badly down the force's priority ladder and demanded action. As a result there has been a cultural change within the force.

Between December 2020 and December 2021, 16,758 residential burglaries were recorded across Greater Manchester.

The figure dropped to 11,256 for the period December 2023 to December 2024, a 33% reduction, equivalent to 106 fewer burglaries a week.