Articles by James Vukmirovic

Technology

Appeal launched after clothes stolen in burglary at Birmingham home

A CCTV image of a man West Midlands Police officers want to speak to has been released as part of the appeal into the incident, which happened on August 8. A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "Do you know who this is? "We want to speak with him after a house was broken into in Kingston Row in Birmingham, at around 3am on August 8. "A number of personal belongings including clothing were stolen. "Officers investigating have carried out multiple enquiries including reviewing CCTV footage but have been unable to identify the man involved. "If you can help with our investigation you can contact us via Live Chat on our website or by calling 101 quoting crime reference number 20/340260/25."

Technology

'We're winning fight against gun and knife crime' insists West Midlands Police Chief Constable amid latest violence on region's streets

Chief Constable Craig Guildford spoke after a series of violent incidents on the region's streets. A man was murdered in Phoenix Park, Wolverhampton, today (Wednesday), just yards from the scene of a shooting in August that has led to a man admitting attempted murder. Detectives also investigated a possible discharge of a gun in the city on Tuesday. A man was shot and badly injured in a daytime attack near Wolverhampton's city centre Sainsbury's store on October 13. And two men were killed as they sat in a vehicle in Whitmore Reans on September 19. The Chief Constable said that there were still challenges around public perception of both gun and knife crime. But he blamed a mixture of negative reporting in the media and the prevalence of social media for heightening fear. He told the Express & Star he felt there were plenty of "positives" to report, saying: "I do still think, with knife crime, there's a factor of the issue sounding worse than it is and, obviously, we put out stories which are hopefully intended to reassure the public about just how much work we're doing on it, how seriously we're taking it and, most importantly, how we bring some of these people to justice for the things they have done. "Some of that is quite a challenge when it comes to the way that some of the reporting happens on social media, so I think we're always going to be up against that, but we've got to redouble our efforts to make sure we get the positive messages out to counter some of this narrative. "In terms of firearms, the trajectory is really positive, as not only have we recovered more firearms that we have done previously, but the number of discharges have also reduced, with the lowest number of discharges in six years. "Last year, we recovered 137 weapons and we had 123 surrendered and, so far this year, we've recovered 104 and had 152 surrendered so, overall, gun crime is down 15 per cent.

Technology

'It just doesn't feel safe' - Residents speak of 'dangerous' Wolverhampton park and too many incidents after man dies following early morning attack

The incident, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, left a man in his 20s seriously injured after being attacked on the car park of Phoenix Park in the Blakenhall area of Wolverhampton. West Midlands Police later reported that the man had since died of his injuries and were beginning a murder investigation, with work taking place to carry out CCTV, house-to-house and other enquiries in the area. The car park, which sits alongside the Dudley Road, was surrounded by police tape throughout Wednesday, with officers and Police Community Support Officers also visible around the cordon, while a number of people taking exercise in the park or walking along the road stopped to see what was going on. As the morning turned into afternoon, the cordon was widened to include the whole park, which meant anyone inside the park having to vacate the premises due to forensic teams arriving at the scene and other officers scouring the grounds for evidence. The park has been the setting for the annual Wolverhampton Council Diwali celebration, but has also seen several incidents in the past, with the most notable being on August 26 when Kieran Thomas shot a man at close range. It had been the scene of what appeared to be a massive fireworks party on Tuesday night, with dozens of used fireworks boxes and rockets littering the area near the car park and into the larger park area, and at least one local resident said the park had become a dangerous place to go to.