The letter of apology, which was a condition of diversion for the bloke who stole my laptop was waiting for me when I got home yesterday.
It said:
It is with sincere apology that I am writing you this letter to apologise for my actions. I wish to apologise for picking up your laptop on Wednesday the 13th of February and not returning it sooner than I did.
On picking up the laptop I tried to find you in the car park and tried ringing the number inside the case. I realise now that I should have taken it directly to Airport Police and let them locate the rightful owner instead of trying to myself. It was not my intention to keep the computer and I am sorry that I did not return it sooner than I did.
I can not express how sorry I am for this situation and apologies for any grief and inconvenience I have caused you.
Yours sincerely
This sorry excuse for an apology tells me he’s not only a thief but a liar.
I foolishly put my laptop down beside my luggage while paying for parking at the airport and walked off with the suitcase but not the laptop. He must have been just behind me in the queue and could have called out as soon as he noticed what I’d done.
I realised I’d left the laptop just minutes after doing it and ran straight back to parking machine so there is no way he could have missed me had he been trying to find me.
We have three phone lines and an answerphone at home so I don’t believe he tried to ring.
The laptop had a password which he managed to get past. He could then have emailed me to let me know he had the computer. Instead he used it for about a month before excellent police work led to his whereabouts and he was invited back to the airport where he admitted to the police officer handling the case that he had the computer.
Sorry? I have no doubt he’s sorry he was caught but I don’t think he can be sorry about stealing the computer when he’s still trying to say he didn’t steal it but was only a bit slow in trying to return it.
I’d been uncertain whether making him do diversion was the right decision. This letter confirms it was because you get only one offer of diversion. If he haasn’t learned he was wrong from this experience he won’t get a second chance if he transgresses again.
Homepaddock 
What an ignorant b…..d. He deserves a week in clink.
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Yes you must be very disappointed with the outcome of your decision to prosecute knowing that diversion was the likely result. That totally inadequate, insincere,half arsed attempt at rewriting history with his version of the incident, reveals how the well intentioned restorative justice system fails miserably.
For such a system to have the intended value there must be a monitoring system of the outcomes or failure is the only likely result.
My only personal connection with this well intentioned but totally flawed dream solution had the same insincere male bovine excrement outcome. That particular little scrout would still be sniggering if he had the remotest concern about his actions but he also, had zero concept of either the seriousness of his offending or his good fortune in the system delivering the panacea of diversion that results in the copout that so often is the result.
I still think you were right to bring him to account for his actions and share the disappointment you feel at the final result.
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GD – I wanted diversion rather than tying up the courts for what in the grad scheme of things was a minor crime.
I did wonder if even that was going too far, but the letter has convinced me it wasn’t because he hasn’t admitted he stole the computer. That means he will be more likely to steal again and if he does he’ll go to court.
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I haven’t gone back to check your earlier posts, but wasn’t the laptop returned because a police officer tracked it (and the thief) down? And not because, as this apology letter suggests, that the person who had it took longer than he should have to return it? “I am sorry that I did not return it sooner than I did.”
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Yes, Hollyfield – it was only thanks to the policeman’s perseverance that I got it back.
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