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Police chief: Hard to control stolen gold trade


A COUNCILLOR who had his house bur- gled for jewellery asked Maidstone's police chief if anything could be done about stamping out stolen gold-for-cash transac- tions. Cllr Adrian Brindle (Shepway South)was


on a scrutiny committee quizzing members of the Safer Maidstone Partnership about the link between burglaries and drug and substance misuse. He told Chief Supt Matthew Nix (pic-


tured) he had been a burglary victim. He said it was "pretty dreadful" that someone could steal jewellery, put it in an envelope, send it to a dealer and get a cheque back in the post "with no questions asked".He won- dered if anything could be done.


"In short, no," said Ch Supt Nix. "It is a le- gitimate business. We have local premises that deal in gold and we have very close working relationships now with certain premises which have an interesting clien- tele who, potentially are, or have engaged in criminal activity. We have a very tight visiting regime and we work very closely with their manage- ment to make sure, where possible, they are doing absolutely what they should be doing.


Thanks for 20 years of service – but your job no longer exists!


A MAIDSTONE Museum em- ployee received a redundancy notice from his council employ- ers the day before he was due at a long-service celebration. Peter Smith, of the Winter-


field estate, East Malling, joined the museum in October 1990, within a few days of Sue New- man, from ParkWood. Neither of them attended the


Town Hall bash. Mr Smith said: "It seemed somewhat ironic to be congrat- ulated for giving 20 years' serv- ice at the same time as being


told you're not wanted." The pair, both stewards, are among 12 staff at the museum, the tourist information centre and the Hazlitt Theatre box of- fice who have been asked to reapply for just five new posts under a reorganisation of the services. Mr Smith said: "With the mu-


seum extension going up, you would imagine they would need more staff, not fewer. “And therewill no continuity


with people working a rota be- tween the three places."


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"We check the contents and work with the management - that's easier to do if it's fixed premises, and we have a number of those in theMaidstone district.” But he said it is almost impossible to do something about stolen jewellery being posted for profit. “Could someone be send- ing off stolen goods? Yes, it is feasible they could, but we would not even know where they are going or how. It's a bit like the in- ternet age, it's very difficult to police be- cause we are unsighted on it, whereas at fixed shops we can intervene, and we do.” Ch Supt Nix added: "We have been quite successful in Maidstone recovering stolen property going through all sorts of premises, not just the obvious gold dealers."


Company seeks east move for convenience INTA Motorcycle Services wants tomove from Maidstone to an in- dustrial unit in Harrietsham. The company says its Upper Stone Street premises no longer suit


its requirements, and has applied to undertake motorcycle repairs, sales and MOT testing at Unit 1, Roebuck Business Park, Harriet- sham. According to the planning application: “Themajority of their clientele live to the east of Maidstone and therefore will find these premises more convenient.”


Fence break-ins PERIMETER fencing at Lenham Storage is being damaged by break-ins, according to the company. The statement was made to support the applicant’s pro- posal to replace chain-link fencing with a close-boarded structure.


Artists’ exhibition THE Pilgrims Way Artists are presenting their 14th annual summer exhibition in Lenham Tithe Barn over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Thirty local artists, potters


and sculptors will be present- ingmore than 400 works. Entry and car parking are free.


Lillico Country Store, Beddow Way, Aylesford, KENT ME20 7BT Tel: 01622 718062


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