A summer of football

The World Cup is finally kicking off and I couldn't be more excited. I look forward to the World Cup, it's a great excuse to meet with the boys down the pub or at the park to kick a ball around.

Unfortunately my duties as a superhero sometimes get in the way of football fun. Some football fans get too worked up and violent about games and take the fun out of what should be friendly competition.

You might remember the Chelsea and Cardiff supporters that got out of hand after a game in February this year. About 200 fans fought on Kings Road, Chelsea. Safety cones and even bricks were thrown during the fight, which resulted in several injured police officers.  One even needed facial surgery. Incidents like this take the focus away from the game - what we are all really passionate about in the first place.

There are photos of some of those wanted in connection with the Chelsea v Cardiff fighting on Crimestoppers' Most Wanted website. Check out the Most Wanted website and see if you recognise any of those featured. If you have information call the Crimestoppers hotline anonymously on 0800 555 111 or pass on information using our secure online form.

I hope you all enjoy what's undoubtedly going to be a summer of football. I know I will, especially if everyone behaves.

Who is this man?

There are ups and downs of every job, including being a super hero. It's great being able to help solve crime, but some of the cases I hear about are horrible.

In May 2010, a young girl was sexually assaulted in Fleetwood, Lancashire. She was forced into a car by a man who then drove her to an area on Rossall Lane and assaulted her. Attacks on children chill me to the bone. It is disgusting that people attack other adults, let alone children and young people.

Lancashire Police are working hard to bring the culprit in this case to justice. The little girl’s attacker is said to have two or three badly broken or missing teeth on his upper jaw. It is also believed he was driving a dark green or turquoise car on the day of the attack.

As part of the inquiry, police are appealing for any information on a man seen at the ‘pitch and putt’ on Fleetwood promenade, close to the Marine Hall, early afternoon on Thursday 15 April. The man was carrying camera equipment and wearing black. Officers have stressed that this man could be entirely incident and may have been in the area for recreational purposes.

If you know anything about this crime then be sure to get in touch with either Lancashire Police, or if you want to pass on information anonymously, you can contact the charity Crimestoppers. You can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or pass on information online using the charity's secure online form.

Crimestoppes has offered a £10,000 reward for information leading the arrest and conviction of the person/persons responsible for this crime. Only information submitted through Crimestoppers will be eligible for the reward.





14 June 2010 - Update: A man has now been charged with this crime. Read more on the BBC News website.

Charity sky dive photos

As promised, photos from the charity sky dive done by Shevon's family are now online!

The photos, courtesy of www.clickandjump.co.uk, are now up on Crimestoppers' Flickr.


www.flickr.com

crimestoppers' Sky dive for Crimestoppers in memory of Shevon Wilson photoset

Congratulations once again to everyone who took part in the sky dive.

Skydiving for a good cause

I’ve been inspired to blog today by a very brave family from the south west – one of my favourite parts of the UK.

Last year Shevon Wilson, a Bristol teenager, tragically lost his life to knife crime. In Shevon’s memory, his family organised a sponsored skydive over Salisbury Plain to raise money for Fearless, Crimestoppers’ brand for young people, and to raise awareness about the dangers of knives.

Last weekend nine of Shevon’s family members took part in the 13,000 ft skydive. What a brave and inspirational thing to do. If you want to support this great event and cause, you can make a donation through Virgin Money Giving.

Knife crime is a serious issue in society today and one that we all have to work together to fight. If you have any information about knife crime remember that you can always use Crimestoppers' knife crime texting service to pass on information.





P.S – Hopefully we’ll have some photos from the skydive to post soon!

Something's fishy

In the little free time I have I enjoy fishing with my fellow superheroes. There is no better way to relax than to hang out by the lake and catch some fish. Unfortunately due to the illegal activity going on with fish being brought into the UK, I may have to stop relaxing and start fighting crime at my local fishing spot.

According to the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), organised criminal groups have been illegally importing fish, specifically carp, in order to make a large profit. A 50lb carp can be worth around £20k!

Shipments of live fish have been picked up at UK borders. If these illegally imported fish reach our fisheries it can cause a lot of harm. The fisheries can charge more money to fish, because their customers have a higher chance of catching a huge (illegally imported) fish. At the same time though, the imported fish could contain unknown diseases and kill the local fish.

With the start of summer and warm weather, I know I want to be able to enjoy some nice summer days fishing. For all you other fishers out there, I know you can relate. We have to help put a stop to these criminals before our summer fun and fish stocks are ruined!

If you have any information about the illegal importing of fish, or about the theft of angling equipment, please help protect the angling community by contacting Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or by filling in a secure online form.

London's Most Wanted

Facebook, Twitter, Delicious... I'm a bit of a nosy person and I love social networking websites because they allow me to keep up to date with what's going on around me in a simple way.

For the same reason, I'm a big fan of the new London's Most Wanted website that launched today. It allows you to look through over 100 appeals of wanted individuals from London. You can even filter them by borough and crime type. I didn't just look through the appeals in my borough though; I checked out all of the boroughs I visit regularly, just to make sure I'm not sitting on the bus every day next to a wanted crim.

London's Most Wanted is a joint project between the Metropolitan Police and the charity Crimestoppers. Appeals are uploaded by the Met and the site itself is hosted by Crimestoppers. An ideal match some (such as myself!) would say.

Since launching not even 24 hours ago the site has already had more than 30,000 visitors. What a great result for a worthwhile project like this one.

If you haven't already, make sure you check out London's Most Wanted. You can also read more about the project on the Crimestoppers website.

Win tickets to V-Festival 2010

Now, I'm not much of a festival goer these days, but I certainly was once upon a time. In addition to daylight saving and strawberries, festivals are another part of the British summer enjoyed by many.

The fine folk at Essex Crimestoppers attend V-Festival at Chelmsford every year to remind people about the invaluable service provided by the charity.

This year, Essex Crimestoppers has two VIP tickets to V-Festival in Chelmsford to give away. Public tickets to V-Festival have already sold out. No wonder with classic acts like the Pet Shop Boys performing. My grand kids tell me that they're keen to see Cheryl Cole and Kings of Leon. Clearly there's something on to suit most people's taste!

To go into the draw to win the V-Festival tickets, visit the Crimestoppers website and answer the five multiple choice questions about the charity.