Budding author nipped

Press, 2 April 1980, Page 19

Budding author nipped

PA Auckland Auckland detectives were “impressed” yesterday when they found a diary in which a young man detailed 28 burglaries •he claimed to have committed in recent months. The policemen were more intrigued when the man explained he had been thinking of writing a book about the working life of a burglar. He told them he had to have experience before he could write about such an occupation. Detectives seized wh.T they regarded as the “conclusive evidence” — detailed descriptions of the burglaries, who the proceeds were sold to and for hew much — while exe-

cuting a search warrant on a Ponsonby house yesterday. They also recovered several thousand dollars worth of property, including radios and jewellery. Detective Senior-Ser-geant B. E. Pickering, deputy officer in charge of the Auckland C-1.8. break snuad. said the man’s records showed that most of the 28 burglaries were '•arried out in houses in Remuera. The budding author told ’he police he figured that wealthy people would most likely have had their belongings well insured and would not be hurt by his activity. Detective Senior-Ser-

geant Pickering said that since finding the diaried records, the police had verified that 14 of the cited burglaries had, in fact, occurred. He said: “It is most unusual for offenders to keen siich detailed and helpful records. It is not often that they write down what they stole, who they sold it to, and how much they got for it . . . and then cross-reference it to the ori'- :> 'a| burslarv. “The police have been pleasantlv impressed.” An unemployed illustrator, aged 22, has been arrested. He will appear in the District Court at Auckland today on one charge of burglary.