Tea Leaf

I'm very disappointed today, discovering the the loss of some very expensive specialist metal hand engraving tools accumulated over some years.

I'm more saddened to discover that they were lent out by a family member despite my explicit instructions not to. But that wasn't the half of it. The person that borrowed them claimed that I'd given them myself so that they could sell them to get themselves out of a looming financial crisis. See what they did there? More, they listed a number of people locally who could back them up, and suggested perhaps "because I'm a Stroke Survivor my memory isn't perhaps what it should be".

One problem. Three out of the five people are 'Friday Night beer buddies' of the borrower who weren't local at the time, who praised his generosity and admitted they only knew what he had told them. A fourth said it "sounded like the kind of thing I would do to help out", and a fifth said "I'd back him up to the hilt" and  hung up on me.

Last but not least, a family member admitted they had "lent them out for a few days", and admitted they'd done so in error - when I pointed out the 'borrower'  had a record of drunkenness and violence to his relatives, and in his mid thirties had no skill set or work experience and couldn't use the tools.

Just shows you how deceptive people can be. So I reported it to the police, who I'm pleased to say are taking it seriously. They have warned me it will be a tough one. Apparently it may be recorded as a "disability hate crime" which is defined as "acts against those who may be vulnerable" and now has high priority.

Whatever. As far as I'm concerned, I'm doing him a favour. All I'm really interested in is getting sufficient reimbursement for the cost of the tools so I can replace them.

Edit

Not that I'll recoup the cost, I've discovered. I'm advised by a lawyer friend the most he'll probably get is a slap on the wrist, but only after I'm put through the mill, and he'd be unlikely to pay anyway.

However, I'm told I can ask for the chap to be given a warning to be kept on record and  a telling off, particularly since I've discovered he's a family man who is on disability benefits due to mental health and substance abuse problems.

Better, I'm told, that he knows I won't tolerate being messed about with. Ok. Seems the right thing to do.