Lunatic runs loose on Langdale in another suspected robbery

The crimewave on Langdale Road continues

Langdale road police robbery smithdown students

Furious residents of Langdale Road were disturbed in the early hours once again as a matrix van and several police cars were dispatched to deal with another robbery.

The suspect, who was later arrested, is covered in blood – and can be heard telling the police he cut himself shaving.

The man, who gave his name as Gavin, told officers he was chasing a guy in a white who had a laptop he believed to be stolen.

But police were clearly unconvinced as they searched Gavin and arrested him.

The lights kept langdale road up at night

Driton, an Economics student who lives on Langdale, told The Tab: “I was woken by flashing blue lights at about 1am on Sunday.

“I opened my curtains to see a man running up the street and a policeman not far behind him.

“They were shouting a lot but I couldn’t really hear, that’s when I went to look out of my upstairs window.”

Driton and his housemates filmed some of the action.

The suspect was joined by his friend who was covered in anti-vandal paint.

In a second video, you can hear the friend getting frustrated with the police as they question him about the incident.

The police tell him to “just chill out” and “wait a minute” as they try to calm him down.

James, Chemical Sciences fresher saw the whole thing.

He told The Tab: “I walked outside my mate’s house on Langdale at about 1.15am and there were flashing lights everywhere.

“There was even a matrix van that had one police car in front and one behind and about six policemen stood on the streets.

“I asked one what the hell was going on, and he told me there’d been a robbery and to make sure to lock all my windows and doors.

“I carried on walking down Langdale and saw two men dressed in black.

“They had flashlights and they were looking over the back of walls, climbing on and even looking inside bins.

“It was like they were looking for a weapon or something.

“About 10 neighbours were stood outside their houses filming and there were policemen patrolling the surrounding roads too.”

The morning after

Langdale resident, Rebecca also witnessed the incident.

She said: The cops were here for like an hour and half last night, from 12.50 to 2.30am.

“I woke up just after 1am to a lass screaming down the road.

“I saw a tall, student-aged lad, wearing a red shirt getting arrested. This happened within five minutes of the police arriving.

“We got a newsletter about noise this morning, I imagine locals aren’t happy at the moment.

“I lived in Kenny for the past two years and I swear there wasn’t this many robberies.

“I’ve counted five on this road since the beginning of term.

“Living in Kenny, I was in the middle of it all.

“But this kind of thing was never targeted at students. It was always just shitty criminals targeting shitty criminals.

“Students are such easy targets. Criminals know there’ll be multiple phones and laptops in a student house.”

The Dales Residents Group are the same group that warned residents living off Smithdown that taxi firms may be working with and notifying street criminals, earlier this year.

Their newsletter that was posted just hours after the incident and said: “The recent ‘horrors of excessive noise coming from some of the houses in our area’ are angering locals.

“The past two months have not been good.

“There are already two houses where the city council is applying for Section 80 (ASBO) orders.”

The road has already been hit multiple times this year – it is clear students’ stuff is not safe.

The Tab contacted the police but they were unable to comment at the time.