On 29 October I discovered that the spare headphones in my drawer weren’t mine but an old tatty pair. I had two perfect, pristine pairs of identical gaming headphones, both with mics. I had gotten the second pair because the first pair had been delivered with a fault, where it didn’t say ‘power off’ on switch off, when usually they say both ‘power on’ at switch on and ‘power off’ at switch off. Other than that it was a perfectly good pair, so the seller sent me another but let me keep the faulty pair too, and I kept the second as my spare pair. After all, the only fault was that it didn't audibly say 'power off' on power off; it still switched off just fine. This all happened in December 2022, and I'd had two sets of identical headphones ever since. I keep the spare pair in it's box in a drawer.
On 29 October on getting the spare pair out (which I need when the main pair runs out of battery) I instead discovered an old, tatty, worn and frayed pair in the box. These were not my spare headphones.
Later the same day I reported the crime to the police via West Midlands Police Live Chat online. Two police officers came round on 1 November and I showed them, but we discovered the serial number on the old tatty headphones (Q3770H3407091) matched the box they were in, so we couldn’t figure out how they could have been taken. In addition, on testing the tatty headphones they said ‘power off’ and we couldn’t figure that out either, as I was adamant that the only fault with my spare pair was that they didn’t say ‘power off’ on switching them off.
The whole time we were talking, my main pair were there too, but we didn’t consider or address them, we just assumed they were my main pair of headphones, which obviously hadn’t been stolen.
I next played videogames on 3 November, and quickly realised that the headphones I had assumed were my main pair, that the police and I hadn't discussed when they attended my property, didn’t say ‘power off’ on switching them off. I instantly realised that they must be my spare pair. And that would mean my main pair had been stolen, and replaced with the tatty headphones.
I then went up to my loft to check the box for the headphones, and sure enough, the serial number on the main pair box (Q3770H3406848) doesn’t match the spare pair headphones (Q3770H3611221).
This would mean the burglars took the main pair of headphones and the box for the spare pair. The tatty discarded headphones with matching box simply mean they left old, probably discarded headphones in their original box in place of mine, hoping I wouldn’t be able to discern or prove what had happened.
Furthermore, on closer inspection of the kitchen door handle while cleaning the kitchen window (the frame was unusually greyed, blackened and dirty), I noticed someone had forced the handle over, the whole thing including the bit usually screwed in, not just the handle bit you pull out, to the extent that it had scraped the paint off the wood in the shape of the handle slot. I realised this must have been the point of entry.
Imagine how callous someone would have to be to force entry like that, in order to steal headphones.
West Midlands Police Live Chat online had advised me on November 4 that the log had been closed, but had given me the email address for one of the officers who had visited the property on November 1, and said he's the best person to discuss the matter with. I wrote to him with the further evidence urging him to reopen the log and create a crime record of the incident, attaching all relevant photos and copies of chat logs. I then wrote to the WMP police general contact email address a few days later when he didn’t reply.
The latter email address wrote back to me on 12 November requesting photos, which I provided, and they then didn't reply further. I eventually had to inform West Midlands Police Professional Standards Department via email that police are being negligent regarding a burglary for which there is enough evidence of theft and proof of forced entry to create a crime number and investigate, to which I am currently awaiting a response. It's a very sad state of affairs indeed.
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