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Friday 25 Jun 2004

MP VICTIM OF BAG SNATCHER ON RAIL STATION

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Liverpool MP Louise Ellman had her handbag snatched while visiting Liverpool’s Lime Street railway station today (25 June). Her assailant was captured, then marched off to be fingerprinted and locked up by the British Transport Police, who were quickly on the scene. Network Rail can reveal the identity of the attacker as Neil Attersall, one of its own members of staff. Colleagues and associates of both the MP and Mr Attersall can rest easy, however, because Network Rail chose them to demonstrate the new CCTV system on Liverpool Lime Street station. There has been criticism of Network Rail in the past because of a lack of cameras on the station, and Ms Ellman agreed to take part in the bag snatch to see the effectiveness of the new system. Following the ‘snatch’ the assailant was taken to a new high visibility CCTV van parked on the station, which is equipped with fingerprinting equipment and a detention ‘cell.’ The van was bought for the British Transport Police by Network Rail at a cost of £40,000. The cameras have been working since early May even though the contractors who installed them only officially handed over the system to Network Rail at the beginning of June. Forty-one cameras have been strategically dotted around the station with monitoring equipment located in the station offices. The digital monitoring system provides continuous recording for up to 31 days at a time. Any ‘footage’ that may be needed to be kept for a long time e.g. as evidence in a court case, can be recorded on a CD and it is also possible to print hard copies of any images. - more - CCTV – 2 The system cost £250,000 and Network Rail and the British Transport Police are looking into the possibility of linking it into the city’s CCTV system. That would mean offenders could be tracked through the station and out into the city centre, so for example, a shoplifter stealing from one of the station shops could be followed across the concourse, out through the front of the station into the city streets, where they may possibly be apprehended some distance from the station. In a further development, Merseytravel has agreed to contribute an additional £100,000 towards the scheme. This will be used to purchase up to 17 more cameras, which will be strategically placed around the station. After the bag snatch Louise Ellman MP said: “I am delighted to see Network Rail install better security for Liverpool passengers with 41 new CCTV cameras. This is a boost for safer public transport and part of the modernisation of Lime Street station in a regenerated Liverpool.” Roy Greenhalgh, Network Rail’s station manager at Liverpool Lime Street, said: “The cameras have already proved their worth with images being handed to the British Transport Police to assist them with their investigations. Network Rail will not tolerate anti-social behaviour, criminal activity or assaults on members of staff. We are very pleased with the new system and look forward to the funding from Merseytravel, which will make it even more effective and the station a safer environment for both the travelling public and the staff who work here.”