Episode 7 Doorstep Crime 999

Rogue-trading rip off merchants, cold-calling conmen -

these types of crime strike on our very doorsteps.

And you know what? They're getting worse and worse.

But don't be too alarmed -

we've been out and about with award-winning police and trading standards teams

all over the country to see how they're fighting back.

With your help, we're campaigning to show doorstep con artists the door.

Today, the incredible story of the doorstep criminal

who got his comeuppance after ripping thousands of pounds

off unsuspecting churchgoers.

I just thought to myself, "This bloke is conning me."

The alarming story of scammers brought to justice

for tricking consumers into paying extortionate prices

for burglar alarms they didn't even need.

These particular alarms you could buy off the shelf for £200-£250.

Pentagon were charging their victims between £800 and £4,000.

Absolutely outrageous.

Plus, we hit the streets of Leicestershire,

with an award-winning taskforce of volunteer crime busters,

as they defend their village against doorstep crooks.

Cold callers, doorstep sellers know that they are not welcome

and there's no excuses whatsoever.

Hello, and welcome along to the programme,

Your e-mails are keeping me very busy, but I like it.

There's nothing worse than opening your front door to find a stranger

who quite simply may be up to no good.

And, from what I've been reading

from viewers like Tammy Friel and Ramya Perera,

they completely agree and want to stop the crooks now.

Well, we've been to meet a group of volunteers in Leicestershire

who give up their time to fight crime in their village.

And you know what? They've even won awards for it.

When it comes to doorstep crime,

the residents of Blaby have a zero-tolerance policy.

In fact, residents here are so determined to stamp it out

that they have a group of volunteers who work with the local police,

not only to support victims,

but also to stop it from happening in the first place.

We saw an opportunity

where we could really bring together some best practice

from a range of agencies to really go pro-active in reducing

distraction burglaries, doorstep crime

for those people that were most vulnerable.

The plucky villagers are fighting back by setting up

No Cold-Calling Zones and making home visits

which aim to educate residents about what they can do

to prevent themselves from becoming victims.

And so far, it's proving to be extremely successful.

The volunteers have won

the National Policing Improvement Agency award twice now

in three years and have been nominated again this year.

That really reflects the hard work and the difference

that police volunteers can make to, not only what I do,

but the communities they serve.

An important part of the volunteers' work

is the support they give to victims of doorstep crime,

and one person who's benefited from this is Iris Halfpenny.

She had her handbag stolen after a burglar followed her into her house one night.

I just couldn't believe it when I went for my handbag

and it wasn't there.

And then I suddenly thought I'd left the back door open

and I'd had the burglars.

It's the initial shock you get when you have the burglars,

and at my age, you know, 86, it isn't easy.

The police put Iris in touch with the Blaby volunteers.

They fitted an alarm to her back porch,

repaired a CCTV camera her late husband had installed,

and gave her advice on how resist doorstep criminals.

We can't do anything about the fact she's been a victim of crime,

but what we can do is help her rebuild the rest of her life,

because it can have a devastating effect on someone.

To spare others from the ordeal that Iris went through

the volunteers carry out home visits.

Christine Ainge is one of the gutsy village folk

giving up their time to protect their neighbours, like Alan Darton.

So, what can she do to protect him from the threat of doorstep crime?

Hello, Alan, I'm Chris, I'm from the police volunteer

from the local Blaby policing unit.

-I've come to have a chat with you about security?

-Do come in.

Thank you.

I see that you didn't have a door chain fitted when we came in.

One of the things we strongly advise

is for everybody to have a door chain,

or something that's easier to manage is a door bar.

The important thing we need everybody to know is

if anybody comes to the door you don't know, you're not expecting,

you do not open the door until you've put the door chain on.

That acts as a reminder for you, so that when you walk to the door

you'll see that and that will remind you

to put the chain on before you open the door,

and to check and ask for identification.

-OK?

-Yes.

Home visits like this are a great way of making people aware of the dangers,

but it's just one aspect of the work that the volunteers do.

And with so many options to choose from,

it looks like Alan is going to be a very happy customer.

We'll check in with the Blaby team a little later on in the programme.

Now here's another instance of doorstep crime.

Hi, Gloria, I'm Detective Constable Leigh Bickerdyke from Gloucestershire Constabulary.

I would like to tell your viewers about a con artist who travelled

throughout the United Kingdom over a two-year period,

targeting vulnerable and elderly members of the community.

I want to tell you how Gloucestershire police worked with other police forces

throughout the country to put an end to his crime spree.

Many thanks indeed, Leigh, that sounds like a dramatic story,

and we'll be meeting her later to find out all the details.

First, we have a really shocking story

which just goes to show how great the cost of doorstep crime can be.

We're in the Midlands, where two con artists decided

to prey on consumers' home safety fears

by selling them faulty burglar alarms at extortionate prices.

Pentagon Security liked to project themselves

as if they were out there protecting people.

In fact, Pentagon Security were the people these consumers should have been protected from.

Pentagon Security Systems -

not to be confused with reputable companies of a similar name -

was run by Harjit Kalian and Ajay Chopra,

a dodgy duo who would try anything to get a sale.

They were preying on the vulnerability of the consumers,

using press cuttings of criminal activity,

such as people being burgled, assaulted, attacked in their homes.

So they were using scare tactics to try and sell their alarms.

One person who fell victim to the scam was 81-year-old Gwendolyn Stokes.

In 2008, she was at home in Walsall

when Kalian and Chopra knocked on her door

offering to sell her a burglar alarm.

At the time, Gwendolyn was in the early stages of dementia

and is now sadly unable to appear,

but her daughter, Heather, is keen to tell her story.

'She was very forgetful.'

She needed to be reminded about certain things, about paying bills,

about shopping, about personal care, even.

Kalian and Chopra conned their way into Gwendolyn's home,

and, using their scare tactics, persuaded her

to buy an alarm system for a whopping £1,600.

These particular alarms you could buy off the shelf for about £200-250.

Pentagon were charging their victims between £800 and £4,000.

£4,000? What shocking a rip off.

Pentagon wasted no time in fitting their overpriced alarm,

and Heather was in for a shock when she popped round

to check on her mum the following day.

When I found out that Pentagon had actually been

and fitted this alarm system, I was quite shocked

because Mum had never said to any member of the family

that she wanted a burglar alarm.

We didn't feel that she would be able to use a burglar alarm system

because of her failing mental health.

But not only were these conmen

happy to rip off a vulnerable woman with dementia,

Heather was stunned to learn they'd also insisted that her mum

drive with them to the bank to withdraw the cash.

That quite alarmed me -

the fact that they were going with Mum to the bank,

they would know bank codes, sort codes, and so on.

|They should have contacted myself or my brother

to find out whether, indeed, Mum even had the funds

to pay for this alarm system.

Robert Charnley of Sandwell Trading Standards

led the investigation to track down Kalian and Chopra.

We began to follow the case back in 2007

when one or two complaints started to come through

which started to cause us some alarm.

There were allegations about the way these people were approaching

people in their own homes and taking people to the bank so they could get paid.

We began to make investigations and we were able to identify further victims.

Amongst them was 70-year-old Graham Carlin,

who'd already had an alarm system fitted to his home by 24/7,

a reputable company with no connection to Pentagon.

It came with a monitoring service, which meant the alarm

would automatically dial the company's hotline should there be a break in.

So far, so secure.

But a few months later, Graham received a visit from,

you've guessed it, Harjit Kalian of Pentagon Security Systems.

'In Graham's case, when originally approached by Pentagon,

'they claimed to be from his existing security company, 24/7.'

They claimed they were taking over the contract and maintenance of his alarm.

'Unfortunately, he didn't make any checks or ask to see any ID,

'he could have asked for a phone number and rung 24/7,'

but he didn't.

When they told me the system needed updating

I accepted their word.

'In hindsight, I should have been more careful.'

Graham was duped by Pentagon Security Systems into replacing

a perfectly good alarm with one that was about to cause him

serious trouble - and cost him a huge amount of money.

The initial figure was the best part of £3,000,

for the installation of the alarm and the five year monitoring,

which they'd taken over from 24/7.

So, let's get this absolutely straight -

this was a monitoring service which was meant to automatically

call the Pentagon Security hotline only if a break-in occurred.

But - surprise, surprise - Pentagon botched the installation

so the system was actually dialling the hotline every few minutes.

It was only when Graham received his phone bill that he realised

something was seriously wrong.

I queried with BT if there was a fault on the line

and they traced it to the alarm system.

I was ending up with a telephone bill 20 times my normal monthly bill.

So Graham's usual £25 monthly phone bill had rocketed to over £500.

And that's on top of the three grand he'd paid for the alarm.

Unsurprisingly, Pentagon didn't return Graham's calls.

Now with an ever-growing number of victims,

it seemed Kalian and Chopra's dodgy alarm business was unstoppable.

But their luck was about to run out,

as their victims started to fight back.

In fact, so alarming was the mounting evidence against Kalian and Chopra,

Trading Standards decided to move in on the pair.

'In 2008, having collected all the evidence,'

we executed some warrants.

Those warrants were executed on their home and business properties,

and we took away vast amounts of paperwork and computers, as well.

The case against Kalian and Chopra was absolutely overwhelming.

They were arrested and charged with 40 counts of fraud and theft

totalling over £200,000.

We brought these gentlemen to court and in the end they pleaded guilty.

Kalian received a four and a half year sentence for fraud and theft

and Chopra received a two and a half year sentence, also for fraud and theft.

We hope we've brought some closure to the victims of these people.

It's been a very tough lesson for both Graham and Gwendolyne,

but daughter Heather has some valuable advice for fighting back

against these doorstep criminals.

'Contact Trading Standards,'

contact the police, contact anyone if you think your friend

or relative is being ripped off by doorstep selling.

Ask to see some ID, to see who they're working for,

take a telephone number, make a phone call.

You can always ask them to come back at a later date.

If you have any suspicions at all, don't let them into your home.

Still to come, the conniving conman who helped himself

to thousands of pounds from generous churchgoers.

As soon as he'd gone out, there were bells ringing

that said, you know, "Deep down, I don't trust that guy."

I've had an e-mail from Danielle,

who's a Neighbourhood Watch secretary from the West Midlands.

Apparently, an elderly neighbour was recently burgled,

but it seems the community got together to help gather evidence,

so in the end the police were able to identify and charge the culprit.

Danielle writes that her neighbour now has CCTV in her home

and, with everybody looking out for her welfare,

it makes her feel a lot safer.

I think it's a great idea, a great community idea,

and, Danielle, thanks very much for letting us know.

Now to find out how the residents of Blaby in Leicestershire are getting on

as they continue their fight against crime.

Since 2002, local volunteers have been working with the police

to keep cold-calling conmen, rogue traders and doorstep criminals out of their community.

And having won two national awards for their work,

they clearly have the right approach.

Today, volunteer Christine Ainge has been talking

local resident Alan Darton through the various aids they can supply

to prevent him from becoming a victim.

Put those in the window, close to the front door.

I know it's a bit hard

and a bit blunt but you have to do it to get the message across.

-I agree with that.

-Another thing we've got, Alan, is...

-I don't know whether you've heard of Smart Water, have you?

-Yes.

All it consists of is a little vial of liquid.

OK?

Now, within there, that liquid contains its own unique DNA.

All we do is, there's a tiny brush,

and the idea is that you mark any of your items,

just a tiny dot of this is sufficient.

And when it's recovered, if it's recovered,

the police use ultraviolet lights

and they will detect if it's been marked with Smart Water,

and if it is, ultimately they will identify who the property belongs to and it's returned.

OK, Alan, I think that's covered everything.

Is there anything you think might be useful for you?

I think Smart Water and a chain on the door.

That's excellent, no problem.

But don't forget, check their identification.

That's fine, thank you very much indeed.

In addition to visits like these,

the volunteers have been fighting back against doorstep crime

by setting up No Cold-Calling Zones.

Since the No Cold-Calling Zone has been set up,

95% of the residents have been really, really happy,

they're happier in their homes, they feel much, much safer.

This is a sticker that we ask our residents

to put into their either front window or door,

and it tells doorstep people, "Don't call here,

"because you're not welcome without a appointment."

I expect the question on all our minds is,

"How exactly do you go about setting up a No Cold-Calling Zone?"

Is it something that any of us could do?

The NCCZ is set up by the residents.

The residents get together, they approach the police,

parish council and district council,

and then the group that will say yay or nay is actually Trading Standards.

Once a No Cold-Calling Zone has been agreed,

then the next step is to put up the signs

attached to lampposts, etc, to make sure cold-callers,

doorstep sellers know that they are not welcome

It's extremely visible, and there's no excuses whatsoever.

One resident who's delighted to have the No Cold-Calling Zone is David Thompson.

Unfortunately, he knows exactly what it's like

to be on the receiving end of doorstep crime

after two distraction burglars came around posing as council workmen.

One of them wanted to go to the toilet,

so I let him in. I had some money in the kitchen in a plastic bag.

So what did he do? He picked that up and put it in his pocket.

Now I don't let people

come and do any jobs unless they've got ID.

They put these signs up - that helps a good bit.

I don't get so much people coming trying to get in.

Another villager to have benefited from the volunteers' work is Sam Hetherington.

Since this place has been officially a No Cold-Calling area,

there's been less people come round touting or cold-calling.

The Blaby volunteers are making an enormous difference to the people in their community.

But, as Inspector Jon Brown from Leicester Police explains,

the fight against doorstep crime is still ongoing.

Distraction burglary is a terrible crime.

'The impact it can have can be devastating for victims'

and that's why we must do all we can to catch and convict offenders.

Now, as well as your emails, you've not been shy

about telling us face-to-face what you think about doorstep crime.

When I hear that these sort of criminals are brought to justice,

I'm relieved, I hope that they learn their lessons,

and it's good that they are and they need to be made an example of.

They need to be severely punished.

If someone knocks on my door uninvited

depending on the time of day, I will either not answer it,

or I will put the chain on and say, "No, thank you."

Remember the clip we saw earlier, of Detective Constable Leigh Bickerdyke?

Well, we've been to meet her and find out the whole story

about a conman who went to extraordinary lengths to rip off consumers.

Thanks to Leigh and her team at Gloucestershire Police, the crook got his just desserts.

25-year-old Mark Rhodes was a doorstep criminal

who travelled the UK, carrying out dozens of offences

between 2007 and 2009 -

and his victims all had something in common.

Mark Rhodes predominantly preyed on people who had strong...

community links with the local churches and parishes.

It was mainly the Christian faith that he would target,

and use their charitable nature to his gain.

In fact, his unholy activities led police to dub Rhodes "the church conman".

One such target was retired vicar Stuart Baxter,

who was relaxing at his Derbyshire home in March 2009 when the doorbell rang.

I went to the door and there was this very smartly dressed young man,

who just said, "Are you the minister?"

And I said, "Well, I am."

-SCOTS ACCENT:

-He says, "My name's Mark Rhodes, R-H-O-D-E-S.

"I'm wondering if could come and have a word with you.

"I've got myself into some awful trouble."

Yes, you're right, he was Scottish.

Rhodes told Stuart that he'd just moved into the area

and needed cash because he'd spent the last of his money on a tax disc for his car.

As Stuart was a man of the cloth,

Rhodes wondered if he could lend him some money until his next payday.

It was a very plausible story.

It was the sort of thing that I could imagine

quite a number of young men getting themselves into

if they've moved to a new area, if they've got, er, a new job,

and, you know, they haven't been keeping a watch

on how much money is coming in, how much is going out.

Compelled by his strong sense of charity,

Stuart gave Rhodes £25 in cash -

but something still bothered the caring cleric.

There were various points.

I just thought to myself, "This bloke is conning me."

As soon as he'd gone out, there were bells ringing

that said, you know,

"Deep down, I don't trust that guy."

Rhodes eventually left, promising to return the money.

But sure enough, it wasn't long before Stuart's hunch was proven correct.

The following day, I got an e-mail from a friend of mine,

whose brother-in-law is a superintendent in Derbyshire Police,

giving me a very accurate description of the guy who had sat in this chair.

And I was on the phone to the police straightaway.

Stuart discovered Mark Rhodes was the subject of a massive manhunt,

involving 18 other police forces throughout the UK.

He'd been conning dozens of elderly and vulnerable people out of cash,

with amounts ranging from £10 to £750.

Rhodes was also wanted for a series of distraction burglaries

and, most damning of all,

some CCTV footage showed the lengths he would go to fleece his victims.

The CCTV is one of a handful that we obtained from various police forces.

It shows Mark Rhodes going to a local bank with one of his victims.

He's actually, er, sort of, quite friendly with the victim.

The victim then goes to the cashier and removes...

I believe it was £350, and then gives it to Mr Rhodes.

He writes her an IOU for the amount,

and then leaves and has no intention to return that money to her.

But it's quite shocking how you see the nature of him, and how friendly he is with the victim

and how comfortable he appears in the footage.

The evidence against Rhodes was overwhelming. The trouble was,

once he'd carried out his doorstep cons, he just didn't like to hang around.

During his crime spree, he travelled extensively throughout England,

as you can see from the map here.

Predominantly north to south and occasionally moving west to east.

He would stay in and around the area of an offence,

carry out his offences, before moving to another county.

He would utilise local hotels and cheap establishments that he could stay in overnight.

We were always 24 hours, 48 hours behind him.

He was moving so quickly throughout the country that it was very hard

for us actually to pin him down and actually locate where he was.

By April 2009, Rhodes had left a trail of 70 crimes,

totalling over £7,000, but police were able to fight back

by making an appeal on national television.

We were quite lucky that a lady who runs a B&B

recognised his photo and immediately identified him

as someone who had checked in that night and had rented a room from him.

She believed his property was still in the room,

and contacted police straightaway.

When police swooped on the B&B and arrested him,

the elusive Mark Rhodes quite simply didn't have a prayer.

When he was arrested, surprisingly, he seemed quite relieved.

I think, to him, it was quite a relief that he had actually been forced to stop.

And maybe he wouldn't have stopped had an arrest not happened,

and did show what I believe is some amount of genuine remorse for his crimes.

Well, repentant or not, in June 2009, church conman Mark Rhodes

was charged with burglary and fraud and sentenced to five years in prison.

Sadly, whilst even divine intervention won't get Rhodes' victims their money back,

Reverend Stuart is staying positive.

I think I will be a little bit more wary

of people who just turn up on the doorstep.

If somebody is genuinely in need, I want to help them.

The whole of my life has been to try and be Christ-like to other people,

and...you know, I'm not going to stop doing that now.

Now let me tell you about Pauline Rogers who says she lives in a remote part of Cumbria.

She has signs saying...

..as well as keeping low-energy light bulbs on at night on the front drive.

She says this seems to be doing the trick completely.

Thanks very much for getting in touch, Pauline.

We're here to fight back against doorstep criminals

and we'd love to hear more of your stories about how you've stopped them ripping you off.

You can always get in touch with us by contacting us on...

I do hope you'll get in touch, cos we love your e-mails and letters.

I hope you'll join us again next time. Until then, thanks very much for your company. Bye-bye.

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