High Wycombe: Warning over man begging for money in town

Police have been made aware of a man who is "aggressively begging" in the centre of High Wycombe.

Megan Staples reported the incident to Thames Valley Police when the man pictured approached her asking for money.

She claims he was very persistent and was getting into her "personal space" cornering her whilst becoming more aggressive.

Megan kept persistently telling him no and took photos of him as evidence for the police investigation.

(The image has been blurred for legal reasons) 

This has happened multiple times and the first incident was reported to the police a year ago, according to Megan.

She said: "When it comes to the behaviour it fully depends on what situation you're in with him. When he's asking for money he will approach very quickly and talks in a whiny voice and is very persistent.

!If you say no to him, he approaches more and gets into your personal space VERY quickly, often backing you into a wall/corner if you're standing.

"If you're sitting, he will stand over you and becomes more aggressive with the begging. When you say no again and actually challenge him on it he becomes aggressive and shouts.

"He sometimes tries to grabs purses/wallets/bank card.

"Then when you argue back/defend yourself, he will shout obscenities at you (in this case, started calling my partner a 'n****' and 'a pedo' for taking the photos of him) and then he will shout a little more before he runs away." 

The High Wycombe resident feels unsafe to walk alone and wants to make others aware.

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She said: I'm really glad to see that others are aware of him and have been reporting where possible. It's just a shame that he keeps behaving in such a way to so many people, and in some cases even worse than what I called him up on

"It really doesn't make you feel safe. I live less than 5 minutes from my work and even that's too long to be alone. Not only that, it is hard to distinguish between who's homeless and who's not. It's causing the public to treat everyone the same, regardless if they're actually homeless or not as you just don't know anymore." 

A spokesman from Thames Valley Police said: "Thames Valley Police received a report of a public order incident in the area of High Street in High Wycombe in August 2022.

"Officers have investigated the incident and that investigation has since concluded.

"The investigation has been filed pending further information coming to light, if anyone has information then call 101 or make a report online quoting reference 43220352047."