the business.
Operating the shop as best we could, the following week Jeremy received a call from Hopkins who wanted to make an appointment to bring back the editing hard drive and some wedding tapes as they had taken note that they were needed for the business to continue. They did not have the equipment to view the DVCAM tapes and wanted to do that on the premises.
On the day Patel also accompanied him and Jeremy sat her at the editing desk to show her how to view the tapes while I pulled out files of the couples they related to. I sat at a spare desk to do some admin work as I watched her speed through the tapes, stopping at intervals to have a look at the happy couples beaming back at her, even looking at the blank tape after the films had finished. Jeremy sat with Hopkins showing him the files and trying to find out further information. Again, there wasnothing for them to find but a legitimate business. Grudgingly I had to offer them refreshments. Fortunately, they looked like customers sitting with us and they did not give any indication as to who they were when customers came into the shop for Jeremy to deal with.
After a couple of hours Jeremy signed the receipt listing all the equipment that was being returned. There was so much more missing, however, and without an initial list of what was taken, it really meant nothing in the scheme of things.
Our solicitor pressed Hopkins for our property list. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act says, ‘If property is retained, the person who had custody or control of it immediately before seizure must, on request, be provided with a list or description of the property within a reasonable time.’ Disappointingly, this was not being considered by the police, who had still not provided us with one by late December.
Shortly before Christmas I received an email from one of the team who searched the house and shop telling us that we could pick up some more of our belongings. At further inconvenience to us, Jeremy had to close the shop and I had to take a further half day off work. We drove all the way to Hoddesdon to meet with DI Burn to collect whatever the police were prepared to let us have this time. It turned out it was our collection of pre-recorded videos and thankfully our own wedding video, honeymoon video and other personal films. As pleased as we were, Jeremy did complain that, although he was grateful to get these items back, what he was really after were the DVCAM tapes and discs for his website and accounts. Burn, looking through her straggly, parted bleached-blonde hair that made her features look even harder, gave a big sigh and said that as far as she was concerned they had bent over backwards for him in his requests. It would have been nicer if they had bent over backwards and given us our list of belongings so that we could know what they had taken and what they were prepared to give back in stages. It was very frustratinggetting our property back only in dribs and drabs. Again we signed the receipt form and took away the videos. Once home we extracted the personal films and put the rest back into storage. It would be years before we could ever look at our wedding video again.
I left work on Christmas Eve and did not need to return until 2 January, which meant a long holiday. It was a double-edged sword. On the one hand I was grateful for the break. I was so very tired and even though I knew I would still wake up regularly in the early hours, the break meant I could catch up with sleep at any time during the day. On the other, being at work meant I could take my mind off our problems. Now Jeremy and I would be at home together 24/7, driving each other mad trying to make sense of everything, going over events, analysing conversations and reading between the lines.
Somehow we had managed to get through the holidays, with New Year also being spent quietly with family. The cries of revellers shouting out ‘Happy New Year’ did not apply to us. There was
Operating the shop as best we could, the following week Jeremy received a call from Hopkins who wanted to make an appointment to bring back the editing hard drive and some wedding tapes as they had taken note that they were needed for the business to continue. They did not have the equipment to view the DVCAM tapes and wanted to do that on the premises.
On the day Patel also accompanied him and Jeremy sat her at the editing desk to show her how to view the tapes while I pulled out files of the couples they related to. I sat at a spare desk to do some admin work as I watched her speed through the tapes, stopping at intervals to have a look at the happy couples beaming back at her, even looking at the blank tape after the films had finished. Jeremy sat with Hopkins showing him the files and trying to find out further information. Again, there wasnothing for them to find but a legitimate business. Grudgingly I had to offer them refreshments. Fortunately, they looked like customers sitting with us and they did not give any indication as to who they were when customers came into the shop for Jeremy to deal with.
After a couple of hours Jeremy signed the receipt listing all the equipment that was being returned. There was so much more missing, however, and without an initial list of what was taken, it really meant nothing in the scheme of things.
Our solicitor pressed Hopkins for our property list. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act says, ‘If property is retained, the person who had custody or control of it immediately before seizure must, on request, be provided with a list or description of the property within a reasonable time.’ Disappointingly, this was not being considered by the police, who had still not provided us with one by late December.
Shortly before Christmas I received an email from one of the team who searched the house and shop telling us that we could pick up some more of our belongings. At further inconvenience to us, Jeremy had to close the shop and I had to take a further half day off work. We drove all the way to Hoddesdon to meet with DI Burn to collect whatever the police were prepared to let us have this time. It turned out it was our collection of pre-recorded videos and thankfully our own wedding video, honeymoon video and other personal films. As pleased as we were, Jeremy did complain that, although he was grateful to get these items back, what he was really after were the DVCAM tapes and discs for his website and accounts. Burn, looking through her straggly, parted bleached-blonde hair that made her features look even harder, gave a big sigh and said that as far as she was concerned they had bent over backwards for him in his requests. It would have been nicer if they had bent over backwards and given us our list of belongings so that we could know what they had taken and what they were prepared to give back in stages. It was very frustratinggetting our property back only in dribs and drabs. Again we signed the receipt form and took away the videos. Once home we extracted the personal films and put the rest back into storage. It would be years before we could ever look at our wedding video again.
I left work on Christmas Eve and did not need to return until 2 January, which meant a long holiday. It was a double-edged sword. On the one hand I was grateful for the break. I was so very tired and even though I knew I would still wake up regularly in the early hours, the break meant I could catch up with sleep at any time during the day. On the other, being at work meant I could take my mind off our problems. Now Jeremy and I would be at home together 24/7, driving each other mad trying to make sense of everything, going over events, analysing conversations and reading between the lines.
Somehow we had managed to get through the holidays, with New Year also being spent quietly with family. The cries of revellers shouting out ‘Happy New Year’ did not apply to us. There was
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