I bet your fingerprints are on the insides of them. Ask if they will investigate that.

Items such as the loco modified to operate from a wagon with a pick up shoe is evidence of ownership as these items become unique in a way only you can identify.

I would suggest the same as others have with another eBay account and see if the seller allows pick ups.....

If the seller is truely innocent he will bend over backwards to try to help you find the criminal, if not then he is either the criminal or at least well aware he has received stolen goods (which is a criminal offence), and these bastards need to be nailed!

Oups

It only involves you

This whole story sucks big time.
It seems to me that the police doesnt (want to) do anything.
Maybe you need a lawyer. -If the value of the collection warrant that...

Marco, I'm sorry to hear that, its the thief that gets away ans I'm sure they are aware of it what the law can and not can do.

the alleged ebay seller is either receiving stolen goods or he is the thief himself. I would have thought the police at least give him a visit and saying to him they have suspicion this ebay seller is receiving stolen goods and they could have a look around.

I'm disappointed they didn't take this further, I understand it wouldn't stand up in court but at least give this person a wake up call so he may stops buying stolen goods on the other hand If I would have received stolen goods I at least would have the decency to either tell him who sold it to me or make an arrangement for the owner to recoup his losses by mentioning how much I've paid for.

John

By the way, this guy NOW has notice of the thefts and should have co-operated with you. A good judge would take THAT into account in determining CREDIBILITY and his GOOD FAITH or lack of it.

In Canada we have CanLII to look up law. There must be a similar service in England.

CanLII

I am so sorry you had this happen. The fact that the police refuse to assist you is horrible. I am willing to bet that the thief will eventually mess up and get caught doing another crime. While I don't have any valuable models, many bring back fond memories and I know I would be very upset if they were stolen.

I dont know why you should have to buy back stolen items. Can you not get on to your local MP and get him or her to put pressure on the police to do something. Thats what your paying taxes for Eddie

in the USA mail fraud laws are very strict (its what they used to nail mafia a few times)

I wonder if he mailed an item to the USA if that would make him ran afoul of the US mail fraud rules.... the fraud is that he knowingly mailed stelne items for his own gain.

I'm not saying I am in a position to do this right now but if you are set on purchasing your items back, maybe members could purchase them for you and you pay them back. This might be a solution to him blocking you from bidding on your own items.

David

One last time, if you are signed in to ebay, you have the option to report an auction to ebay. I would think that reporting the goods as stolen and if you can prove one item belonged to you, you should be able to have the seller taken off ebay. I think that ebay would do anything to avoid being accused of being complicit in the sale of stolen or potentially stolen goods.

Regards

Mike C

but one needs help in making the proof. His fingerprints are on the inside of these items. Perhaps the items that have been rebought should not be opened, left sealed and have the police open them and compare the fingerprints to the original owner. If his finger prints appear inside these wrapped packages and the item matches an item previously reported as stolen, it should be a good proof.

YOU, to begin with. If the value of the locos is much lower than the cost of the expert evidence, you are not going to get that much back, even if you win the court case.

However, I doubt it would cost thousands of pounds to do get a legal forensic report. A few hundred, I would thing.

Did you get ALL of your locos by buying them back? How much did you spend? If so, that is your loss, in the absence of punitive damages or damages for your being emotionally upset (which you may not get).

Have a good Sunday, Marco and everyone.

Sorry, I misread your post.

No point in going to court if it's not worth it. Enjoy your trains instead (and your stereo, if you enjoy that hobby).

You mean you are an ... undertaker?

Hi Steve,
I did not have content insurance, nor the friend I was keeping my stuff at. He's been burgled again, BTW, last week but as this place is in the country side and not attached to the house they found out the following morning.

I've written the Police again. Let us see what they say. Again this guy told them he buys stuff at a car boot sale near Norwich, so they can't go any further on this.

Bannig the guy from ebay means that items will be removed and probably, lost for ever. This involves money in legal fees and court time, probably, money I do not have. I can't go publicly with the seller's name as it can be considered slander and it could hit me back many times over.

I have placed the locos on the programming track, identical address as the ones I gave them. Coincidence? For the Police they are.

I have to wait for the police to come back to me, if not I'll call them back.

Anyway I'm now playing with the engines and it is a nice feeling :-)

I know it looks like I'm giving up but I have to deal with 'reality', I will try to buy them back so the damage will be less than losing them for ever.

Have a nice day.
Marco

and this is why I will try to buy them back as long as the price doesn't exceed what I paid them originally
Can't go to the guy and say they are mine too, based on which evidence? Apart for the ones I have pictures of? I consider him the 'man in the middle'

Who is the seller?

Once he has been told that the goods are stolen this is not a defence to continue selling them. When he is informed of the status of the items he is then knowingly dealing in stolen goods, however he obtained them.

At the least the police should be seizing them pending investigation to ascertain ownership.

if you do do anything with fingerprints, pass on the unopened packages. Do not open in your own home. Any defence lawyer will quickly say that you put your fingerprints on it after it arrived. You can't rely on your word against them. ("I used gloves")

"I can imagine property crime like this is pretty rampant in the UK."

It is everywhere, unfortunately.

(By the way, I doubt you can shoot would-be robbers in the USA, too. Don't try it: you can bet the bad guys know how to shoot better than you.)

That sounds more like a facet of self defece. You cannot therefore see a burglar in your home and start shooting.

As for your ability with guns, I'll take your word for it. Just remember that there is always someone out there faster or better than you. Think of the Old West.

I would love to reply to this, but I think we should go back to trains....

(Incidentally, did you know that trains and stereos go very well together, like two peas in a pod? )

We probably should continue this in a not-railway thread for sure. In the US it depends on the state - some places such as New York or California it may well be that you must retreat in even in your own home. In most states, I suspect, it is the case that a single 13 round magazine in a Sig Sauer 9mm loaded with hollow-point rounds is more than enough even with two burglars as the rest will run away I suspect, when the first shot is fired. You would think burglary are a thing of that past -but many times they break in during the day while people are at work, for the very reason that it reduces the chance of them encountering a resident and the resulting problems for the burglar. And often burglars are stupid (here) looking for quick cash to feed drug habits - reason and good sense doesn't flow through their brains.

https://www.cnn.com/2017...home-burglary/index.html

Getting back to the matter at hand:

https://en.wikipedia.org...ki/Handling_stolen_goods
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60

It is clear that the law prohibits the possession or sale of stolen goods. Where the police may have difficulty in pursuing such a case is in proving that the items belong to you.
1) Do you have bill of sale for the goods in question?
2) Do you have bill of sale for any goods used to modify the goods that might serve to identify them?
3) Do you have any photos of the items, their boxes and perhaps of any modifications or work done to them?
4) Do you have proof of theft? (Police Report, Photos, Insurance Claim, etc)?

You may get some assistance from your insurance company as a resolution of the matter might enable them to recover some of the money issued under any claim from the suspect

You may be able to get some assistance from the police if you can get it to a higher level, especially if you can submit items 1 through 4 in support

Even if the police say that there is insufficient proof to charge the person with the crime of theft, they may still be liable for handling stolen goods, as the goods were in their possession.
In other words, you can't prove that this person is the one who committed the theft, but they either bought or otherwise came into possession of said goods, which is a crime in itself and may require them to forfeit the goods.
The fact that you advised them that the goods were likely stolen and that your concerns were dismissed suggests that they may have knowledge that this was the case.

Ebay will not want to have itself seen as being a medium for the resale of stolen or otherwise purloined goods. Each auction that you suspect may contain one of your items should be reported to ebay using the mechanism available. This may prevent the seller from listing these items and may facilitate some kind of resolution.

If you try hard enough, you can actually get through to a person at ebay and discuss the situation with them. Start with the contact us option at the bottom of each page or file a dispute on an item that you wish to challenge and then use the escalation mechanism until you can get through to a person at the appropriate department.

For recent items purchased using a credit card, you may have some kind of purchase protection and they may be able to provide some kind of coverage of the loss of those items.

You may want to generally discuss this matter with a barrister before proceding.

If you would like some advice on possible security measures that you can undertake for future protection, please feel free to send me a PM.

Regards

Mike C