W L
THE PRIVATE EYE
by Anthony Butlin of Trojan Investigations
Welcome to another month ’ s editorial detailing some of my work and my daily routine as a Private Investigator .
Most people are intrigued when people ask me what I do for a living . When I was in the Police , nobody asked many questions because most people know what a Police Officer does however when I describe what I do now they think I ’ m some sort of James Bond . Yes my work can be exciting but there can be days when it is very , very tedious as I suppose every job can be . The bad points about my career choice are : -
• Often extremely early morning starts .
• Often very late finishes and I never know when I ’ m going to finish . ( which drives my wife mad )
• Being in the back of a car or hide for at least 12hrs on occasions and seeing nothing in all temperatures .
• No face to face contact with other work colleagues which I was use to .
• If I ’ m on observations , having to go to the toilet in a plastic bottle all day as I can ’ t leave the car !
The good points about my job is that I am my own boss . I make all the decisions and work when and where I want . The main thing is that I can help people who are sometimes in the most difficult situations of their lives . I really do get satisfaction from a job well done . I have also grown a fetish for the latest bits of kit which is becoming a bit of an addiction from secret cameras to tiny listening devices .
So what have I been doing in the last four weeks ? I have spent a week in London following the husband of my Merseyside client who was away with ‘ work ’. What an absolute nightmare place to try and follow someone , however I have discovered the best bit of surveillance kit to use down there ... It ’ s called a Lime Bike . I have never been so impressed with something like I was with this . It ’ s essentially an electric assisted push bike which you pay for via an app on your phone . You can pick them up everywhere and as soon as you are finished with it , just leave it . On day two , I filmed my subject leaving a hotel and getting into a taxi but of course , there was no escaping me , I was on a Lime Bike ! I kept up with the taxi in London traffic with ease . He met the same female on a number of occasions for lunch and dinner and I was even able to covertly film them entering the same hotel room .
I have been instructed by a new insurance company to conduct surveillance on dubious insurance injury claims . These types of jobs are quite comical sometimes . People are creatures of habit without you even realising . Everyone walks in a certain way , their body language is the same and when they break the cycle , it cannot be continued for long and they settle back into their own natural ‘ gate ’. I had a lady who was claiming she could not walk unassisted and could not even bend down to tie her shoe laces due to excruciating back pain . Sure enough on day one , I followed her to Asda in Birkenhead where she got out of her car , walked unaided to get a trolley , entered Asda and with ease , bent down and picked up a large heavy bag of potatoes up and put them in the trolley . Of course , the potatoes had to be taken out of the trolley to pay for them then back in , and out again when she loaded the car . I have traced a number of people for both private and corporate clients . For the first time I have been contacted by a private solicitor who deals with criminal law . He came to me to trace someone as the Police had failed . Yes , I found the male and duly passed the information to my client who no doubt left the Police with egg on their faces .
When I write about my work , of course , I only write about cases where I have had permission from the client and never give any tell-tale details so anyone could be identified . My business success relies on CONFIDENTIALITY . I have many more cases that I am working on , some of which I will never write about and I would never talk about .
Now I would like to ask one question to private clients ; If there is anyone reading this thinking that you may want to pick up the phone about something you are worrying about , what is stopping you contacting me ? I think a lot of it maybe fear of what I may find out . Every time I get a phone call , I get ‘ Sorry I have never done anything like this before ’. There is absolutely no need to be worried . I ’ m a down to earth regular guy and am always open to listening to you confidentially . If you don ’ t want to hire me I won ’ t be offended and I will do my best to advise you free of charge . I find corporate clients don ’ t tend to be worried , particularly employers who are trying to prevent employees draining their business of needless paid wages . Employers , do you have people working for you who are always off sick , on long term sick or are they behaving in a manner when they aren ’ t in work that is detrimental to your business ? If so , please get in touch .
Enjoy the next four weeks until next time … Anthony
22 wirrallife . com