Shop owner in 70km mission to thwart thieves

Shop owner in 70km mission to thwart thieves
By RICHARD WOODD - Taranaki Daily News

BIG HAUL OF MOWERS: Detective Paul Davison with the haul of 26 lawnmowers, recovered by Hawera police yesterday.
RICHARD WOODD/ Taranaki Daily
BIG HAUL OF MOWERS: Detective Paul Davison with the haul of 26 lawnmowers, recovered by Hawera police yesterday.


A Hawera shop owner chased fleeing burglars for 70km yesterday morning trying to recover the 26 lawn mowers they had stolen from him.

But Mike Seaver was ordered by police by cellphone to back off after the burglars reversed into his car.

The police later executed search warrants and found the $26,000 worth of mowers stashed in a Hawera house.

Detective Paul Davison said he was hoping those responsible would be charged in the district court today.

He praised Mr Seaver for his sharp eyes and for quickly alerting the police after discovering crooks had broken into his shop (Seaver Cycles and Motors) in Regent St and stolen 26 boxed mowers from the showroom.

Mr Seaver discovered his shop had been burgled at 10.30pm on Sunday and called the police.

"But I couldn't sleep. I suspected the burglars lived in a house close to the shop and I was lying there listening for vehicles," he said. "Eventually I got up about 6am and drove around and I came up behind a Subaru hatchback with what looked like collapsed mower boxes in the back. There were two young people in the car and I think they must have been moving the boxes to somewhere they could be burned."

He phoned the registration number to the police and chased the vehicle to Manaia and then along back roads to Normanby, where the driver stopped and reversed into his Falcon wagon.

"It wasn't a high-speed chase, but it was a bit nerve-racking. The police had a fair idea who they might be," he said.

His wife Mary slept on oblivious to Mike's dramatic adventures. "But I'm glad I wasn't awake."

The police said Mr Seaver should get his mowers back by the weekend.