Three men charged and remanded for vehicle crime offences - Moor Park

Three men have been charged and remanded in custody after police were called to reports of suspicious activity around vehicles in Moor Park earlier this week.

Mindaugas Antanavicius, aged 39, of Okehampton Road in Romford, Greater London, has been charged with theft of a motor vehicle, attempted theft of a motor vehicle, interfering with a motor vehicle and going equipped to steal.

Aidas Virsila, aged 28, of Croombs Road in Newham, Greater London, and Robertas Pikelis, aged 23, of Crayford Close in Beckton, Greater London, have been charged with the same four offences.

All three have been remanded into custody and are scheduled to appear at St Albans Crown Court on Tuesday 5 March.  

The charges relate to the theft of a Bentley and attempted theft of a BMW in Wolsey Road, and incidents of vehicle interference in nearby Bedford Road.

Police were alerted to people acting suspiciously around vehicles in Moor Park just before 2.50am on Monday (5 February). Officers from the Intervention team arrived in the area seven minutes after the initial report and, with support from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire Police Dog Unit, they conducted a thorough search of the area.

A short time later, three people were subsequently detained on Heathside Road before being arrested. Items suspected of being used to commit a crime – including a signal booster – were also recovered and seized.

Detective Sergeant Darren Machin, from the Three Rivers Local Crime Unit, said: “It’s reassuring that we have secured this result for the community, and we’d like to publicly thank the residents who did not hesitate to call us when they suspected a crime was being committed. Their quick-thinking enabled us to get to the location in mere minutes and make those all-important arrests. We always urge the public to dial 999 if they suspect a crime is in progress, or someone is in danger, as it can often make the difference between a positive or negative result. We now await the case’s progress through the justice system.”

DS Machin added: “Our Neighbourhood Policing Team have done a huge amount of work to share crime prevention advice with those in this area – including Safer Streets events – as historically we have seen spikes in vehicle crime there.

“Despite this good result they are not complacent, and they will continue to provide reassurance and advice in partnership with their colleagues.”

If you suspect a crime is in progress, always dial 999 and give the call operator as much information as possible without putting yourself in danger.

For non-urgent incidents, you can report information online at herts.police.uk/report, speak to an operator in our Force Communications Room via our online web chat at herts.police.uk/contact or call the non-emergency number 101.

Alternatively, you can stay 100% anonymous by contacting the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via their untraceable online form at crimestoppers-uk.org.

Do you have a doorbell cam or CCTV? If so, we would love you to join CCTV Watch so we can contact you if a crime takes place in your street. Sign up to owl.co.uk/herts and select ‘CCTV Watch.’ 

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