Man furious that police have done little to solve disappearance of fish from his pond

A man from New Plymouth in New Zealand who had almost $1,000 worth of goldfish stolen from his pond is furious police have done next to nothing to solve the mystery. Craig Ashcroft reported the theft to police on Sunday November 23 after noticing his 30 goldfish had been taken from his home overnight. "We're talking $900 worth of fish. I've looked at replacing them and they are $30 each."

Ashcroft said it was highly unlikely the fish had been taken by birds or a cat given the pond had grating over it and every single fish was missing. "I don't know how they've done it but my initial thought was they were stolen to order." Ashcroft said he reported the burglary but heard nothing back until last Sunday when he made a complaint via the police website. "I expressed I'd been burgled a week ago and was yet to have anyone look at the scene," he said.



Then on Monday, Ashcroft received a letter from the central districts police, dated November 23, that said: "after looking at all the available evidence we have not been able to find out who is responsible. Unless more information or evidence is found, we can't proceed any further." But Ashcroft said besides him speaking with someone at the call centre on November 23, there had been no police action.

"I don't know how they investigated the evidence in the time between when I reported the burglary and they wrote the letter," Ashcroft said. "They've done nothing. I didn't expect them to do a big investigation but they could have at least have come and looked at the scene." A police spokesman said files were assessed on the likelihood of catching an offender and if there was no line of inquiry cases were filed. "It's called early case closure, where there is no line of inquiry the matters are filed pending any new information that comes to hand."