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Police release car crooks' pictures

The Oldham Evening Chronicle has begun publishing pictures of car crime offenders.

The move is part of a joint campaign with the police to cut car crime in the town centre.

Police have agreed to supply pictures of the villains who have not already found their way into the paper’s archives.

The first two featured in the Chronicle’s front-page lead on Thursday under the heading: “We shame car crime offenders.”

Magistrates sent the pair, aged 18 and 19, to a young offenders’ institution for three months. One admitted taking a vehicle, driving without consent and stealing a handbag and £90, with three offences considered. The other admitted allowing himself to be carried in a vehicle taken without consent, driving without insurance and stealing a mountain bike and 40 bottles of alcohol, with eight offences taken into account.

Chronicle editor Jim Williams said the campaign was launched after a sharp rise in car crime in the town centre.

“We have obviously been reporting these thefts of cars and damage to cars for some time but I decided that rather than just report them, it was time to see if we could do something more significant.

“After negotiations with the police, they agreed to let us have some photographs and details about offenders when they came up at court.

“We have an excellent relationship with the local police. We have always been fortunate in that the head of the division is very much aware of how a local paper, particularly, can be an enormous help to the police, both in preventing crime and helping to catch those who are committing crime.”

Mr Williams said that quite a few readers had phoned to congratulate the paper on its stance.

He said the Chronicle hoped to extend the policy to house burglars.

“Most of these people live in the area where they are burgling and we feel that by splashing their pictures in the paper, it might serve as a deterrent to them and alert neighbours who might not know that they have some dubious people living nearby.”

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