Silent Crime Sheffield: 'Police fumbled catching my burglar - I'm still waiting for an explanation'

Sonya Sampson, of Fitzhubert Road, Manor, said the break-in last October “still hangs over her like a fog” as her complaint with South Yorkshire Police drags on.

Sonya’s Peugeot 2008 was stolen by someone who crept through her house as she slept at night and took off with her keys in October last year.

Officers later found the car and said there was “nothing recovered” inside and “no evidence” to find the culprit.

She was horrified, then, to open a parcel of ‘items recovered from the car’ by her insurers and find a “stinking coat and face covering” - that officers had apparently ignored for the two months the car was in a police compound.

But now, after waiting more than seven months for an explanation - with the perpetrator potentially still walking the streets - Sonya claims she no longer has “any faith in policing.”

Sonya said: “I’ve had nothing whatsoever in months. They couldn’t catch the burglar, they said they had no evidence when his coat was in my car when they found it, and they haven’t dealt with my complaint in months.

“It’s just been a fog hanging over my head since last year. I’m just waiting for it to end.”

Other items stolen in the burglary included a jar of cash and her handbag with pictures of her children that she would never see again.

The car was recovered in November and later scrapped. The unsettling items were found and sent to by her insurers, which seemingly went unnoticed by police in the two months the car was impounded.

Sonya said: “I’ve still got the coat. They said someone would come to collect, but no one ever did. I don’t know why I haven’t just thrown it out now.

“I’ve just got no faith whatsoever any more. I worry what will happen in the future if I need to ring the police - I worry that I’ll just think twice and say ‘I’d rather not bother.’

“To me, modern day policing could just be this going forward. They haven’t got the funding - if no one is hurt, they don’t bother.”

Sonya says she wants her complaint to end with her seeing what evidence the police did manage to gather in the case to see, in her words, “how much was done about it.”

It comes as The Star and sister titles across the country launched its ‘Silent Crime’ campaign raising awareness of how not all crime is getting reporting because of the perception issues won’t be tackled due to over-stretched police forces.

The aim is to present the findings to the Prime Minister.

An email Sonya received in April after logging her complaint listed seven officers involved with the case, with the issue against them listed as “level of service.”

A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said: “A complaint was received in March 2024 in relation to an investigation into a stolen vehicle.

“A full and comprehensive process is followed when investigating complaints, which can mean extended timescales are involved.

“We recognise the frustration of the complainant, however we can confirm this is now in the final stages and it is expected they will be updated soon.”