Local News

Our Summer Community Hub is Open - this summer (for the remainder of the summer holidays), Runnymede Youth Engagement Officers are proud to be hosting a Community Hub at Gogmore Farm Park in Chertsey Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm, creating a space where local children, young people, and families can come together, have fun, and stay connected. Thanks to the incredible support of Aldi, Tesco, Barnardo's, and Runnymede Foodbank, we have been able to provide snacks, fresh fruit, hot and cold drinks, crafts, and games for everyone visiting the hub.

PC Adag and PCSO Misiak attended Meet the Beat at Longacres Garden Centre, Row Town last week and spoke with a number of local residents 

Over three months at the beginning of 2026, a burglary spree shattered doors and feelings of safety, stole treasured belongings and pocketed items of value throughout Runnymede. The person’s greed led them to burgle from five homes in Surrey and Essex with one property having over £24,000 stolen from it. Each burglary followed the same pattern: a smashed door or window, a hooded man acting suspiciously and a person in a high-visibility jacket on a moped with cloned plates speeding away. Through various enquiries, our officers managed to track down the moped’s real plates, leading them to Warick Rapela. On arrest, officers found in his home numerous fake number plates, a signal jammer and a high-visibility jacket that matched CCTV footage of the moped traveling to and from the targeted addresses. Warick Rapela, 42 (08/08/1984) of Heybridge, pleaded guilty to four counts of residential burglary, as well as a burglary offence from 2024 in Essex. Rapela was sentenced on Wednesday, 29 July 2026 at Reading Crown Court to three and a half years. The investigating officer, Police Constable Rebecca Clarke said: “This was a great result which shows the tenacity of Surrey Police in pursuing offenders of acquisitive crime. We will continue to relentlessly pursue offenders in order to obtain justice for our victims. “Beyond the financial impact of the offences, burglary has a huge effect on the wider community, not to mention completely destroying the victims’ feeling of safety in their own homes. Hopefully, this result will bring them some closure.”

Abdifatah Yusuf Adani, 22, (DOB: 07/02/2004) has been charged with one count of attempted murder following a report of a stabbing at the Stanwell Hotel in Stanwell at 6.30pm on 15 August. Adani, a Somalian national, has been remanded in custody and will next appear at Guildford Crown Court on 17th September 2026 for his Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing. The victim, a man in his 30s who is a staff worker at the hotel, is in a stable condition and remains in hospital.

“I think I will live in fear of him for the rest of my life” These are the words of a survivor of sexual abuse, whose abuser has now been jailed more than 40 years after committing his crimes. In the early 1980s, Clive Siddall (03/05/1945) raped one young girl and sexually abused another. Both girls were known to him. Both thought he would never be held accountable. Now they both get to see him jailed for the crimes he committed against them. In their victim impact statements the girls, now grown women, described the long-lasting consequences of this abuse on their lives. “I had my life mapped out” one said. “I dreamt of joining the RAF and becoming a nurse.” These dreams sadly never came to fruition as she never returned to school after the abuse. “I was no longer able to concentrate, and learning seemed pointless, as my future felt destroyed.” As a result of being sexually abused, she says, “my life lacked purpose, direction, and control.” The other said, “The feeling of having nobody to turn to or rely on has pushed me into making reckless decisions in my life.” Both women have struggled with their mental health, turning to alcohol and drugs as a coping mechanism. Both described difficulties in sustaining lasting relationships with loved ones as they grew older. One confessed “I’m not sure I know what love is”, and said, “I have built walls around me to protect myself from being hurt, but these walls also mean that nobody can get in.” Both survivors carried guilt into their adult lives that they were unable to do anything as children to prevent Siddall from committing further offences, terrified for years afterwards that he had abused other victims and that it was somehow their fault. In 2022 one of Siddall’s victims disclosed what had happened to her to a medical professional, who subsequently made an initial report to police. When interviewed, Siddall’s responded ‘not true’, and ‘no way’ to the allegations put to him. He was charged in April 2024 with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 16, and four counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14. Following a trial at Kingston Crown Court in March, a jury found him guilty of all six offences. Siddall, formerly of Oxted, was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on 14 July to 12 years imprisonment. This amounts to 10 years for rape and two years for indecent assault (to run consecutively), and then a total of three years and three months for four further counts of indecent assault (to run concurrently). Investigating officer, DC Fiona Clare, said “Clive Siddall was in a position of trust in his victims’ lives, and he exploited this in the worst possible way. It is possible that he will now spend the remainder of his life in prison.  Although this will not give the two survivors back the years of trauma they’ve lived through, I hope it brings them some relief to know that he is no longer able to hurt them or anyone else. Their courage is the reason Siddall is behind bars, and I hope that they can use this result as the starting point for the rest of their lives.” 

From gloating in the back of a car with bags full of stolen goods, Charlie Woodford (20/06/1999), of Southampton, is now behind bars for robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary for 19 offences across Surrey, Hampshire, and Somerset. Investigating officer PC Grindlay said, “Woodford believed he could continue offending without consequence, but every time he left some evidence for us to piece together.  We investigate relentlessly, and criminals should get used to looking over their shoulders, because sooner or later we will catch you.”

We are aware of members of the public receiving calls from a number claiming to be our 101 number. The scammers are then advising members of the public to Google the 01483 571212 number to confirm that this number belongs to Surrey Police, which it does. Criminals use ‘spoofing’ software to intentionally cover up their real caller ID and instead, mirror the phone number of a legitimate organisation. They do this to make it appear that calls or text messages are coming from a trusted organisation like the police, banks or government agencies. These scam calls may be automated, or from a real person. Their main goal is to trick you into sharing personal information or to transfer money. 

-A police officer will never call out of the blue asking for personal information, including bank account details.

-A police officer will never ask you to withdraw money or purchase high value items as part of an investigation.

If you receive a call from someone claiming to be a police officer, take their details and message us, call 101, or use the online chat function on our website to confirm their identity. You can also use our website to report crime, ask for an update on your investigation, report road traffic collisions, and submit information requests. In an emergency, always call 999. See less