Pensioner's fury after police 'fail' to investigate two break-ins at his property just weeks apart - as 81-year-old claims he's been 'abandoned'

A pensioner says he feels 'abandoned' by police he accuses of failing to investigate two break-ins at his properties only two weeks apart.

Marcus Davison, 81, has described himself as being at his 'wit's end' after two of his storage units were broken into in Tharston and Tasburgh, Norfolk.

He reported both thefts to Norfolk Police but while an officer visited him following the first break-in, he was told no one would be coming after the second.

He has since made three trips to the force's HQ in Wymondham as well as multiple phone calls while also writing to the chief constable Paul Sanford - but has given up hope of the offenders being found.

The retired lorry driver said: 'I'm an old, infirm and vulnerable man - I'm at my wit's end and I can't handle this.

'Nobody wants to know about it. I've never done anything to anybody, but what we have worked hard for has been taken.

'Why do we pay all these police officers when they don't help us?'

Mr Davison has lived in the village of Lower Tasburgh about eight miles south of Norwich with his wife Mary for 55 years.

He reported the break-ins to Norfolk police, receiving a crime reference number for each and an officer visited him following the first theft on February 25.

After reporting the second break-in on March 16, he was informed that no one would be attending.

Mr Davison has had two bikes stolen and seen significant damage to the units, costing him thousands of pounds.

An angle grinder was used to cut through part of the metal lock, before the perpetrators bent the metal door so that they could have a look inside.

Mr Davison said: 'The police said that they think it was kids - it is all a load of nonsense.

'What kid do you know that can handle an angle grinder and carry concrete blocks up there?

'I'm old now - it is so stressful and I can't do anything about it. My hands are tied.'

He added that he has given up hope and begun to empty to the rest of his belongings from the storage units, having initially left them alone in the hopes that police would investigate.

Mr Davison said he has previously had a car stolen and burned out on the side of the road, while on another occasion his trailer was taken and left abandoned.

A Norfolk Police spokesman said: 'An investigation was carried out by officers into both cases.

'All lines of enquiry have since been exhausted and both cases have been closed.

'Of course, we would always review any new information provided to us.

'We have received a letter from the victim which is being reviewed and officers from South Norfolk Safer Neighbourhood Team will be contacting them.'

Mr Davison's concerns come as it was revealed burglary victims are having to wait up to 28 hours for police to arrive at the scene of a break-in, with average response times leaping by 25 per cent in a year.

Waiting times for a police officer have almost doubled in two years - with one region, South Yorkshire, seeing a 443 per cent rise for response times, new figures show.

Police guidance categorises burglaries as 'Grade 2 priority incidents', meaning forces should aim to respond within one hour. 

But data obtained from the majority of England's police forces suggests victims were waiting an average nine hours and eight minutes for an officer to turn up at the scene in 2022 to 2023.