Episode 6 Doorstep Crime 999

We've been travelling the UK to hear how you've been

fighting back against doorstep crime, rip-off rogue traders,

cold-calling conmen - all of them -

and we're united to bring those scammers to justice.

We're celebrating the work of award-winning police

and trading standards teams all over the UK.

Plus, with your invaluable help, we've been spreading the message

that these crooks must be stopped.

Today, we hear from an award-winning group

in Merseyside, who have been rewarded for their success

in reducing doorstep crime.

And I meet the family of an elderly woman,

who suffered a devastating encounter with a doorstep crook.

What happened on that fateful night when she let this guy in?

She pleaded with him, "Don't leave me like this, I'm nearly 83."

He said, "Give me your money." She said, "I've got no money."

The story of how one father and son door-stepping duo

preyed on the elderly and vulnerable residents of Cheshire.

Well, he went on the roof and he was there for less than an hour.

I don't know what prompted me,

but I just had a vague suspicion that everything wasn't all right.

Plus, we head to Yorkshire to find out how hard-working police officers

tried to bring one distraction burglar to justice.

Most people who commit distraction burglaries, our records show,

are men, normally acting in pairs.

This case was quite unusual, as it was a female acting on her own.

Hello. I'm really glad you've been able to join us for the programme.

Throughout the series we've heard shocking stories of doorstep crime

and yet, many, many heart-warming stories

of communities taking a stance.

That's certainly true in Merseyside, because a whole community

is fighting back, following a very disturbing doorstep crime.

In 2008, 82-year-old Margaret Briers died,

after falling victim to a violent burglar.

Four years later, her family are still trying to come to terms with the devastating attack.

I'm very pleased that two of Margaret's daughters,

Pauline and Jean, have come to London to share their story with us.

What happened on that fateful night, when she let this guy in?

There was a bang on the window - "It's the police.

"Open up, you've got an intruder in the back."

So, I think she's panicked,

opened up, but as she's opened the door, he's pushed her

and got past her and put her arm up her back,

and took her into the front room.

And he just threw her to the floor,

and as he threw her, she's gone to get the call cord from round her neck,

and he snatched that off her and threw it.

Then he unplugged the telephone, so she'd no way of getting help.

Despite Margaret's attempts to defend herself,

she, obviously, was no match for the intruder.

Once away from her, he began to search the house

and her belongings, looking for money.

As he was leaving, she pleaded with him,

"Don't leave me like this, I'm nearly 83."

He said "Well, give me your money." She said, "I've got no money."

So, he did swear at her.

He went off and he left the front door wide open,

and the living room door, so she was there all night, for 12 hours,

freezing cold, as well as being in agony.

Sadly, Pauline found her mother the following morning.

Unable to move,

she was still stranded on the living room floor and in immense pain.

Later, it turned out that her hip was broken in three places.

When she was admitted into hospital, how was she?

I think she was in a state of shock, really, she was.

And she was terrified.

How did she progress that week?

She went down. She started with a chest infection

and they couldn't operate because of the chest infection

and that was due to the fall and the cold.

Margaret died while still in hospital.

A postmortem concluded that this was a direct result

of the injuries she received when she opened her door

to the thief, who had made away with just £16.

Of course, her family are still devastated.

I just hope that he walks in my shoes for one day

and then he may have a bit of how I feel.

As to how he's changed your life?

How he's changed my life, yeah. The damage he's done to this family.

There's so many answers we need

that you can't even think about getting, you know.

It's with you from morning till night.

Obviously, this tragedy will stay with them,

but it also inspired their local community

to mobilise against distraction burglars and other rogues.

Margaret's death was very tragic. It had a huge impact

on all the residents locally. They were frightened to open the door,

frightened to go out and it really was bad at one stage.

We decided that we wanted to do something in the community

to raise awareness of bogus calling and prevent

this happening in the future.

We'll find out more about their heroic work a little later on.

Now, here's yet another example of doorstep crime.

'Hello, Gloria, I'm Joan.'

I've been a victim of doorstep crime involving a repair to my chimney.

I just want to tell you my story, in the hope that it'll prevent

other people from being taken in as I was.

Well, Joan, that certainly sounds like an intriguing story

and we've been to find out exactly what happened.

Cheshire has seen its share of cold-calling chancers

but a scheme has been set up in one part of the county which is designed to protect the vulnerable.

Kay Roberts of Cheshire East Trading Standards

is determined to keep them safe.

Doorstep crime is one of the worst

type of offences that we investigate

and it doesn't just mean that the vulnerable victim

has been conned out of money

and have work done that they didn't need to have done.

It affects them much more than that and it affects them

for the rest of their lives.

They may feel that they're unable to go out,

they may become a recluse and it can affect their health.

The type of people who prey on these vulnerable

and elderly victims really are despicable.

Across the series, we've seen many neighbourhoods promote

"No cold calling" stickers.

Householders place these on their doors to deter bogus callers.

But in Cheshire East, the worry was that this

wasn't an effective solution and something better was needed.

The benefit of the nominated neighbour scheme

is that there are no stickers in the window and so no visible identifiers

that there's a vulnerable or elderly person

living at that address and they simply have a stash of cards within

their house that they can use as and when they receive unsolicited calls.

So when there's an unexpected knock at the door,

the startled homeowner can simply show the caller the card.

It directs them to an appointed neighbour who can decide

if the caller is genuine.

If only this scheme had been in existence back in 2010

when Macclesfield resident Joan Morrison was targeted

by father and son rogues, Donald and James Warner.

One Saturday afternoon, having tea with a friend,

a knock came on the door and this gentleman appeared

and he said that he could see that my chimney was in a state of disrepair.

"Would I like to come into the road and have a look at it?"

I thought I should have it seen to.

The man told Joan that her chimney needed urgent repairs.

He claimed that, in its current state, it would leak

and cause untold damage to her home.

Living on one's own, you feel vulnerable...

..and any repairs that need to be done, you feel that you should

have them done, immediately, to avoid further expense.

I thought about it and it really did worry me.

So, Joan agreed to the repairs, believing they were essential.

For this, she was to be charged £240.

Then it occurred to her that she should seek a second opinion.

Well, he went on the roof and he was there for less than an hour.

I don't know what prompted me,

but I just had a vague suspicion that everything wasn't all right.

So I phoned a local builder to ask him about the price of the work

done on a chimney and he said that I shouldn't pay any more than £100.

Joan did what all of us should do in a situation like this.

She called Trading Standards and, very soon, they were with her.

We went out to Mrs Morrison's address and waited for the tradesman

to return to the address for payment that she'd agreed with them.

We sat at the address for some time and nobody arrived.

The officers waited several hours for the Warners to return

and left reluctantly, when it seemed that nobody was coming back.

Then, just five minutes after they had gone,

one of the crafty pair arrived on Joan's doorstep.

Bravely, she decided to square up to him alone.

In this awkward situation, she agreed to pay him some of the money.

I wasn't nervous, no. I had decided that £150 was as much

as I was going to pay and that was it and when the son arrived

I said, "I'm not going to pay you £240, I shall pay you £150."

Mr Warner then came on the telephone and said, "Well, at least £200."

And I said, "No. £150 is all I'm prepared to pay."

What courage!

Of course, when their work was later assessed, it was found to be

totally unnecessary and over-priced, possibly by as much as £150.

So Joan was quite right not to hand over the quoted price.

The amount she paid was much closer to what it should have cost.

With an inquiry into the Warners underway, Trading Standards

were building a clearer picture of how the crooked pair did business.

The Warner standard practice was to pressurise their victims

and to scaremonger, basically, and frighten them into

having the work done, because they would then be

frightened of the consequences of not having that work done.

So for instance, they had said in some cases, the roof

would blow off the house if they didn't have the work done.

They also said that the price was only available at that time,

so if they didn't take advantage of the price there and then,

it would increase, if they had to come back at a later date.

All absolute lies, of course. The inquiry uncovered ten victims.

Three of them formed the case for the prosecution.

In February 2012, Donald and James Warner pleaded guilty to fraud.

Both were given 12-month community orders

and told to pay costs of over £2,000.

There was good news for Joan, as well.

because the pair had to pay her £150 compensation.

After I heard the verdict regarding the Warners, I was pleased for

all the other people that might have been intimidated by their actions.

And again if, by going to court

and getting a conviction, it might send a signal out

to other people not do to this sort of thing, so much the better.

Trading Standards realised that they could do something else

to make sure this didn't happen again.

They applied for something known as a CRASBO -

a court order similar to an ASBO.

In this case, it stands for Criminally Sought Anti-Social Behaviour Order.

A bit of a mouthful, but a great way to deal with door-stepping crooks.

This means that the Warners are no longer able to make

unsolicited calls at private dwelling addresses

and they're also not able to employ anybody on their behalf

to make unsolicited calls, so this means that they are unable

to carry on illegitimate trading practices that they were conducting

before and taking advantage of elderly and vulnerable victims.

So that's two crooks who won't be knocking on our doors anytime soon.

And with the nominated neighbour scheme now in place,

there's better protection available for the vulnerable in Cheshire East.

The nominated neighbour scheme, which was instituted

after my experience, is incredible.

I think that it enables neighbours to look out for one another,

which is extremely important, especially as one gets older.

I find that, nowadays, each and every neighbour in this area tends

to look after the other, which is all to the good.

Still to come, we're with South Yorkshire Police as they investigate

the odd case of a female distraction burglar, who targeted the elderly.

At this stage, she'd actually got into the house

and it didn't feel right at all and I think it's quite safe

to say that throughout all this time, Derek was never too happy.

Once again, thank you for all your letters

and e-mails. We love getting them.

And we've had one from Anne Blackburn,

who lives in West Sussex, and wrote to say she once gave £10

to a very plausible-looking man at her door,

collecting money for his charity, Wing Walk, at the local airfield.

Later, she had second thoughts and alerted neighbours and police.

Turns out, he had scammed dozens of well-intentioned people

in her neighbourhood.

So Anne recommends anyone faced with a similar story

at the doorstep to beware.

Think twice and be very certain before handing over

your well-earned cash.

Now, let's rejoin the people of Merseyside,

as a community stands up to doorstep crime.

Sometimes, one event can be the trigger for a group of people

to fight back. And that's exactly what happened

when 82-year-old Margaret Briers died,

the victim of a violent distraction burglary in 2008.

None of the family are going to get over this,

and our hopes are that the person is caught and punished,

but also for the safety of other people and their families, because

it's not just the victim, it's the families that suffer, as well.

The tragedy sent shockwaves throughout the community

and was the catalyst for the Doorstep Project,

an award-winning initiative run by the Merseyside Residents Network,

to try and stamp out the ongoing problem of doorstep crime.

The day before our cameras arrived, another local had been targeted.

Good morning and thank you for turning up for this project.

We've been informed by the police

that there's been an incident with a bogus caller yesterday,

so our timing is quite perfect today.

Let's crack on, get this done, make people safer in Liverpool. So again, thank you.

We have had a number of calls in the past months about bogus callers

in the area wearing fluorescent jackets.

So it's most important today that, any house that you call at,

you ensure that you show them your identification,

Take your time to explain why you're here.

It is about stopping people crossing the threshold.

Some people are very naive about who they will let into the premises

We need to make sure that they fully understand who's at the door and why they shouldn't let them in.

As volunteer Catherine Dutton explains,

Margaret's unfortunate death had a profound effect

on The Merseyside Residents Network.

Our work previously was around tenants

and residents' associations and helping them to form,

but because of Margaret's death, we decided we needed to be

more community-focussed and we came up with the idea of the project.

Margaret's family wholeheartedly support the volunteers,

as they go to door-to-door across Merseyside.

I think it gives a lot of elderly people a bit more confidence

that there's somebody out there taking notice that they do need help and they do need protecting

and I think it's really good what they're doing.

I wish this had been around before this happened to my mum.

She could still be around and it would have helped her.

Today, these determined volunteers have teamed up with police

on the streets of Merseyside,

to raise awareness and improve residents' home security,

to prevent anyone else suffering the same fate as Margaret.

I think today's event will help people be more aware of bogus callers.

So what we're doing is we're calling at the addresses and we're offering

people crime prevention advice and also target hardening goods.

Let's try and identify the culprits and get them arrested

and put behind bars.

It's going to be a long day for all involved, but door-to-door calling

is the only way to cover the entire neighbourhood.

I believe you have been victim in the past to a bogus official.

We have, indeed.

It's all regarding the Doorstep Project, which is to defeat bogus callers.

One of the safety devices on offer to residents

is a mirror, which when used in conjunction with a chain,

enables the person answering the door to get a good look

at who is standing on the doorstep.

The volunteers are also distributing handy magnifiers

to help residents check the ID of anyone knocking on their door.

We can only hope that people do use the chains.

We can only hope that people do use the mirrors and ask

for identification but, you know, if we put it in 100 homes, 50 people

use it, it's 50 people out of a 100, which would satisfy us immensely.

Volunteer Stephanie Tomlinson knows just what it's like

to be targeted by doorstep conmen.

Two rogues posed as water board officials

and told her they needed to test her drains with a special dye.

One of them insisted on me going into the back garden to see

if it came through the drainpipe and another was in the kitchen,

to check if the water was going through the system

of a different colour.

Well, I was quite insistent on both of them staying with me

in the kitchen and, eventually, they left

and later on in the week, one of our residents, unfortunately,

was bogus called and they did steal items from her home.

If we can prevent doorstep crime by projects like today

it would benefit the whole community.

In fact, in less than two years, the Doorstep Project has provided help,

support and home security to nearly 3,000 households.

Their inspirational work has been celebrated

with both a regional and a national award.

I'm told that there are plans to roll the project out across the UK.

We were delighted and I think we won

because it was community working for the community.

Margaret's death was really tragic

and we feel that by doing this project, she's left a legacy.

It's made other people safer and hopefully will stop the crime.

Clearly, our thanks to the Merseyside Residents' Network

and to Pauline. I must say, it's heartening to see something positive

develop from such tragedy.

Now it's time to reveal how a doorstep criminal was brought

to justice, thanks to the South Yorkshire's determined police.

In 2010, residents in the Doncaster area

were targeted by a distraction burglar, who gained entry

to their homes by preying on their kindness and good nature.

But as South Yorkshire Police discovered,

this particular doorstep criminal did not fit the usual profile.

Steve Whittaker headed up the investigation.

Most people who commit distraction burglaries,

our records show are men, normally acting in pairs.

This case was quite unusual because it was a female acting on her own.

So again it just goes to show,

there's no specific type of person who commits this type of offence.

We can't name this young crook for legal reasons,

so we'll call her Janine.

One evening, she called at the door of 73-year-old Derek Harper.

He'd just returned from an evening at the local community centre,

where he plays bingo with his friends.

I come home, made myself a cup of tea, watched a bit of telly.

At half past ten, I went to bed.

At 10.50, the bell went.

Of course, it was Janine at the door and poor Derek

found himself on the receiving end of a classic doorstep con.

Janine's first trick was to enquire after the health

of one of Derek's friends, who used to live there.

Once Derek told Janine that his friend had died some years earlier,

she tried another tactic.

She asked for a drink of water, so I told her to stop outside

while I went and got it.

By asking Janine to wait on the doorstep,

Derek had done the right thing, but the mistake he made

was not closing the door behind him.

At this stage, she'd got into the house and it didn't feel right,

and I think it's quite safe to say that throughout all this time

Derek was never too happy. I think, like a lot of people,

the guard goes down a little bit

and he decided against his better judgement,

to give her a glass of water and obviously his gut feeling

was right because, as she's left the house,

she's taken £30 and his wallet.

Now, stealing £30 pounds may not seem like a big deal,

but it turned out that Janine used similar tactics to steal

from a handful of other victims.

Luckily, Derek realised that his wallet was missing

from his coat pocket almost as soon as she left his house.

Determined to get it back, he chased after her.

I said, "Come on, give me it." She said, "What?"

I said, "Me wallet!"

She said, "I ain't got your wallet!" I said, "You BLEEP have!"

"You took it out my pocket."

She carried on and I said, "I'll get the police."

She said, "Well, get the BLEEP police, then!"

Though she protested her innocence, it's hardly surprising that

when the police were mentioned, Janine made a run for it.

Derek obviously not in a position to chase anybody,

so he did the right thing by phoning the police on the 999 system

and we attended promptly and within the space of ten minutes

of that call arriving, this girl was arrested.

We then put her in an ID parade,

but unfortunately, like in a lot of these cases, she wasn't picked out.

Undeterred, the police launched an investigation.

Eventually, it was the cup of water that Janine used to distract Derek

which led to her downfall.

We forensically preserved that cup

and sent it away for forensic analysis.

The cup came back and it was good news for us,

because it came back with this girl's DNA all over the cup.

This time, the evidence was unquestionable,

so Janine was re-arrested

and charged with the offence of burglary.

Police discovered that Derek wasn't the only one to have suffered

at the hands of this doorstep deceiver and, in fact,

was fortunate, in comparison to Janine's other victims.

Between them, they had lost a total of £3,100,

plus a bank card and a mobile phone.

The card and phone were never recovered, but £2,600 was reclaimed.

There were several victims in this case

and some not as robust as Derek, really.

He was willing to come to court

and assist the police as much as he could and although all the victims

were happy to assist, there were quite a lot of victims at an age they didn't want to come to court.

They're intimidated, they're vulnerable,

and a lot of the victims feel a bit embarrassed.

They feel that they've embarrassed themselves or their family

by being tricked into letting these people into the house.

Some people, unfortunately, and thankfully it's in the minority, are never the same again.

At Doncaster Crown Court, on December 6, 2011,

this young burglar was sentenced to 39 months in prison,

much to the delight of Derek and the police.

I'm quite pleased that this individual now won't be able

to trick anyone else into giving her a glass of water

and she'll be able to drink as much water as she can in prison.

Understandably, Derek has no sympathy for Janine and her like.

Steve Whittaker is keen to emphasize that the blame for these burglaries

does not lie with the victims.

I know this was terrible when it happened

-but how do you feel after this?

-I felt a bit silly.

Most people, who are victims of this terrible, terrible crime

feel that it's all their fault.

It's not anybody's fault.

The only person at fault is the person who committed the crime.

It's those who are to blame, not yourself.

Good advice. It's worth remembering that the sooner we call for help in situations like this,

the sooner the authorities can come to our assistance.

One thing's for sure, Derek certainly will not tolerate anyone

cold calling at his house again.

If anybody comes to my door before six o'clock, I don't answer it.

I don't answer my door at all. It's always locked.

If I go out, I lock it, come back in, lock it and put the chain on,

that's it for the night. I will not open that door now.

Fantastic job and what a terrific result.

Now, before we go, I've got enough time to read you this e-mail,

which has come from Mavis Wisby, who lives in North Wales.

It's rather sweet actually, because she says, it's really annoying

when a particular man keeps trying to sell her cleaning products at the doorstep.

She says she can't understand why he's so persistent,

because "as he can see, my door knocker is always spotless".

Now, her daughter has told him to go away several times

and it seems to have put him off.

So, I suppose the moral is, it's always worthwhile asking family and friends to help.

Thank you, Mavis, and don't forget - keep that door knocker clean!

Now, the purpose of this programme is to fight back

against doorstep criminals and we'd love to hear more about how you've managed to catch them out.

Our details are on the website, so I do hope that you'll get in touch.

I hope you'll join me again next time.

Until then, thanks for your company and from us, bye-bye.

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