Nottingham student had rucksack filled with uni notes stolen, then returned by police

A Nottingham student has thanked police after her stolen backpack full of uni notes was returned to her in a day.

Francis McElhatton, a medical student at University of Nottingham, was ice-skating at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham city centre when her rucksack was stolen from the locker area. She realised the bag was missing around 9pm on Tuesday 25th October and then quickly reported it to the police.

The 23-year-old was amazed when the police reunited her with her rucksack and all of its contents the next day. Francis said: “It was sorted out really quickly. I went into the police station in the morning to provide a statement and a couple hours later the police officers were bringing the bag round to my house.

“I was so happy and relieved. I’ve got a uni assessment next week and so I was panicking when I realised my bag was missing as it had a lot of notes inside. I’m surprised I got it all back, especially so quickly. I’m really grateful to the police”

CCTV footage at the Arena enabled the police to identify an unknown suspect. Whilst further enquiries found that the bank card inside the bag had been used at a nearby shop the same night. Further information lead the police to an address where they found the stolen bag.

At the address police found a 37-year-old man, who was then arrested on suspicion of theft and fraud by false representation. The man has since been released under investigation while the police conduct further inquiries.

PC Dean Lewis, one of the investigating officers disclosed that a number of police teams had played a part in returning the rucksack to Francis. He said: ” This was a fast-paced investigation that involved the force’s Managed Incident Team(MIT), the city centre Operation Reacher team and response officers.

“By working together a suspect was quickly identified, traced and arrested and the stolen property returned to the victim.

“We will always investigate every report of theft as we understand the impact it can have on individuals.

“Nobody has the right to take another person’s belonging and such conduct will not be tolerated in Nottinghamshire.”

Featured images via Google maps and Nottinghamshire Police. 

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