Aspiring lawyers build human wall across Waterloo campus entrance to stop would-be thieves escaping
A BPP law student has recalled the moment she confronted two men trying to steal her £1,300 laptop from the law library, physically grabbing one by the throat.
Greta Hedley-Miller, 22, and a current Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) student at BPP’s Waterloo campus, is a prime example of why you should never get between a law student and their work.
Hitting the books at BPP’s Stamford Street law library on Tuesday afternoon, Hedley-Miller left her MacBook Pro unattended for just a few minutes to fetch a hit of caffeine from the BPP canteen.
The young law student first became suspicious that all was not right when she was walking back to her desk. Making eye contact with one of two older males walking in the other direction, Hedley-Miller thought it was strange that they both quickly looked in the other direction.
Unaware at this point that her laptop — containing all her GDL work and precious photographs — had been nicked, Hedley-Miller told the Evening Standard:
He [one of the males] turned and caught eyes with his accomplice. It was the sudden eye-flicker then looking to the floor. I just got a feeling it was very strange behaviour.
The GDL-er, who bagged a first-class degree in classics from Exeter University, became even more suspicious when both men opted to take the long route out the library — which, unlike other routes, does not require a security code.
Returning to her desk to find her laptop missing, Hedley-Miller’s worst fears were confirmed and she gave pursuit.
Cutting off the two men at the library’s foyer, the BPP student stood her ground, going as far as grabbing one of the perpetrators by the throat. Presumably the thought of having to type up months’ worth of EU notes is enough to make any law student see red.
With one thief barging past and managing to escape, Hedley-Miller was hell bent on not allowing his accomplice to escape. Telling the London paper that she “was determined to get justice,” she explained how “the adrenaline kicked in” and she didn’t want to be a “shrinking violet”.
With some law students forming a human wall across the library entrance to prevent escape, others rushed to her aid, pinning the laptop thief to the ground — and Hedley-Miller’s precious computer was saved.
With a Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirming that a 33 year-old male had been arrested in connection with the incident, a source close to BPP Law School said:
These guys probably tailgated students and went in behind them so they did not have to put the door code security number in. Our student was very brave and so were the staff who helped restrain the man.
A BPP spokesperson confirmed they were aware of the incident.