Night Raider Break-in Britain - The Crackdown

Every minute of every day, someone somewhere is getting burgled.

It doesn't sound good.

With an average of 92 break-ins an hour, it's a huge problem.

It never ceases to amaze me

how much mess these burglars cause for people.

For the victims of these crimes, it can take months or even years to overcome the trauma.

Everywhere in the house is completely ransacked.

Everything we had stored was damaged.

It's disgusting, you know... I don't have much myself.

But in this series, we're fighting back against the burglar...

Police! Forcing entry! Police!

..helping you to beef up your security...

-Here we go.

-..while the police catch the criminals.

Oh, yeah. I feel safer now. A lot safer.

Everything's going to be fine for you, isn't it?

This is Break-in Britain -

The Crackdown.

-Hello there.

-Now, it's so easy to take your home security for granted.

-We all do it.

-That's right.

And today I'm in Leeds, with a man who had a rude awakening

when he discovered a burglar had broken in while he was in bed.

I feel utterly outraged. I think it's, I think it's disgraceful

as well. And I won't tell you what I would like to do

if I got hold of him.

And I'm in South Wales With Jean,

who came home to find her door had been kicked in.

And it wasn't even the first time she'd been burgled.

I think one of the things that upset me,

really, was that, the thought of someone being in my house.

And, you know, your house is sort of violated, really, isn't it?

Kirkstall, in the north-west of Leeds,

is an area patrolled by West Yorkshire Police.

It's early morning and one of the locals has awoken to discover

he has been the victim of a burglary.

-OPERATOR:

-All right, thanks, Kenneth. Bye.

When I came out, this is exactly again how it was.

That's where they've done it.

65-year-old Ken is a retired senior lecturer,

who taught at the University of Leeds for many years.

He lives alone and, while he was asleep upstairs, some lowlife broke in.

Burglaries when someone is at home are not uncommon.

In fact, it happens in 53% of cases.

PC Gary Beckett is finding out what happened.

Did you say it was around 6:30 this morning or around 8:30 you got up?

Erm, no, I got up at 7:30, 7:45.

When I came in here, saw this on the floor,

it alerted me to something more serious.

It seems Ken's isn't the only place that's been broken into.

-There's been a couple of other burglaries in the area.

-Yes.

Last night. So, chances are it was the same person doing each one.

So, there might be some evidential link in one of those that we

can sort of tie into this one, if it sort of, like, matches.

So, with a potential serial burglar on the prowl,

Gary heads off to start his door-to-door enquiries.

In the meantime, I'm going to see how Ken's doing.

-Hiya.

-Hiya.

-Can I come in?

-Yes, you can.

-All right, thanks.

What happened then?

Well, I got up this morning

and came down here about half-past eight, went into the kitchen

and I saw that there were three of the cupboard doors that were

open and I thought, "Oh, that's odd,

"I don't remember leaving those open last night."

I've got a couple of cats, so I thought, "Oh, the cats have been having a look around

-"to see what they can find."

-Yeah.

Walked in here and the minute I walked in, on the floor,

my bags were all tipped up and everything,

the contents had obviously been strewn around

and the first thing that I thought was, "There's been a break-in here."

This is, you know, something a bit more serious.

And then I noticed the cold draught coming through and the curtain open

at the back and saw in fact they had taken a double glazing panel out.

-Knowing, probably, that you were in.

-Well, my car was in the drive,

so, you know, from that point of view, the usual assumption would be,

well, the owner of the house is in because his car's on the drive.

So, yeah, clearly,

they had come in knowing that there was somebody in the house.

Police don't like the term "professional burglar".

But it looks like someone who knows what

they're doing, had done it before.

That's the impression that one gets from the evidence or lack of it.

And certainly from conversations early this morning with the police.

Are you all right there? Good morning.

-It's just in relation...your neighbour's been broken into.

-You mean Ken?

-Yeah, yeah.

-In the early hours of this morning.

-Is that why my garden chair is over his wall?

-Yeah.

Your neighbour next door has been broken into in the early hours of this morning.

I just wondered if you'd seen anybody hanging about

-or heard anything last night?

-No.

-No, not seen anything? No?

-No.

-He's not heard anything or been disturbed. They've just taken a few items.

-No, WE haven't.

-But we sleep at the front of the house in any case.

-Right, right.

This has happened many times before as well

and I never seem to hear anything at all.

The police enquiries have uncovered a potential link between Ken's

burglary and the other one that took place just down the road.

The second one, I've just had a quick look and it looks like it is exactly the same MO.

The same sort of window.

It's been taken out in exactly the same way.

So, which is quite an uncommon method as well, so...

I do think it's probably the same person, yeah.

Ken had been doing work in his living room before going to bed,

so this brazen burglar was able to swipe two laptops, a hard drive and two cameras.

There's a lot of work on my laptop and my hard drive.

So to have gone, yeah, yeah... As I say, some of which is backed up...

Until I can check that, yeah,

I'm not going to be able to assess exactly how much documentation has gone.

Sadly, Ken has lost much more than just work on his laptops.

One of the cameras contained some of the last photographs

taken of his late wife before she passed away.

I feel utterly outraged.

I think it's, I think its disgraceful as well.

And I won't tell you what I would like to do if I got hold of them.

-Well, hopefully the police will get to them before you do.

-Yes.

You just feel an invasion of privacy.

Particularly, without any thought for people or individuals.

And all for the sake of a few quid.

Because if they're going to try and off-load these in a local pub,

they're not going to get a lot for them.

You know, we've got our security experts who can come in

and have a look where the weak points are.

Well, yeah, that would be good. I mean, it's always good to get another pair of eyes

and particularly expert eyes, is good, yeah,

to give the look over and provide that advice,

so I will be grateful for that, most certainly.

'No-one should be made to feel violated in their own home

'and Ken is understandably upset.

'We need to make him feel safe once again.'

Those old wooden windows at the back of Ken's house made it

easy for the burglar to get in, by removing the entire pane of glass.

Talk about a window of opportunity!

Ken is in the process of changing these to more secure ones.

But for now, they are being nailed shut.

So, it looks like burglars are definitely operating in this area.

What I want to make sure,

is that they don't get tempted to come back to Ken's place.

I've asked Crime Reduction Officer Nick Whitcombe for his expert

opinion on how we can make this house LESS appealing to burglars' eyes.

-This is the place.

-What a rubbish alarm box.

'Nick is not a man to mince his words when it comes to home security.

'He puts himself into the mind-set of a burglar,

'to spot any weaknesses they might see.

'This garden is full of tools that could be used by a burglar to break in.'

All right, Nick? So, that's where they got in.

What do you make of it?

As soon as you come round the corner, instantly it looks bad.

All these little marks. They've taken the beading out.

Beading out, whole window out, nice and quiet, place it down somewhere.

You've got your big escape route. You don't have to open the window.

And they've been fairly brazen because there's

lights all over this place, you know, security lighting.

He's got that down the side. At the back, he's got one of those sensors.

What happens when the light comes on? They duck down.

Glance up at the window, see if anybody looks out, do they look out?

-Not usually.

-No.

They are going to be replaced, these windows, as they should be.

As everybody's should be, because they are rubbish.

Stop a burglar getting to the back of your premises if you possibly can.

This is just a small gap.

Why not fill it with a decent security gate?

Nick is not impressed.

I'm not holding out much hope for a high security score for this house.

I'm going to give it a...

-four.

-Four? As low as that?

It's only getting a four because he was lucky.

He's lost his computers.

He could have lost an awful lot more.

'Looks like we've got our work cut out to sort out this place.

'Time to call in the man who can. Security expert Neil Goldup.

-Hello, Neil speaking?

-Hi, Neil. It's Dan.

-Hi, Dan.

-All right, mate.

Listen, I've been out to another burglary

and there's been a fair few in the same street.

It sounds like we've got a fairly determined burglar out there.

-All right.

-Are you all right to come over and take a look at this place?

I think there's a fair bit needs doing.

Right, yeah, yeah, of course I will.

-Just send me the details and I'll get round to you and see what I can do.

-Nice one, Neil.

'We'll be back later with a bag full of security tricks

'to improve Ken's home and stop any burglars in their tracks.'

In South Wales, the small village of Baglan, near Swansea,

is the scene of another burglary.

77-year-old former missionary Jean has come home to find the door panel

prised open and her possessions rifled through.

-I had some necklaces...

-OK.

-..and I could see that they'd all been opened.

-Yeah.

She's lived here alone for six years

after inheriting it from her late sister.

Jean regularly volunteers at food banks and local charities,

and was returning from a shopping trip

when she uncovered the burglary.

Which room was disturbed? Which room had they gone into?

-The back room, the bedroom that I sleep in.

-The back bedroom, yeah?

Back bedroom, yes, yes.

It's so sad to see something like this happen to her in her own home,

especially as she's living alone.

But PC Rachel Hawkins says she's coping better than expected.

Cos an elderly person like Jean in a house on her own,

is going to be a bit shook up by something like this, aren't they?

Completely. And as we would identify, she's a vulnerable victim.

I wouldn't say all people Jean's age would take it like Jean.

You know, she's quite...

She's quite sprightly, she's very...

Seems very independent.

It's amazing how well she's holding up

after such a traumatic experience.

I mean, he's obviously stood there, cos that...

This was in there. This...

-So this briefcase has been removed from the wardrobe? OK.

-Yes.

She's even got a smile on her face.

What a positive lady.

-And there's nothing in there.

-Nothing in there.

The next morning, I'm back to see how Jean's feeling.

I went out at about 10 o'clock in the morning,

I came back about quarter to three,

opened the front door with my key,

walked in, as I normally do, everything seemed to be fine,

and then I became suddenly aware of cold draught

coming down the passageway, so I looked out towards the kitchen

and, to my amazement and horror, really,

I saw that my back door had been kicked in.

You know, I could have been here when he walked in.

You know, that would have been even more difficult, I think.

And, you know, I was safe.

Unbelievably, this isn't the first time her house has been broken into.

She was burgled three years ago

and most of her valuables were taken then. It really is sickening.

I used to go out, lock the doors, make sure the windows were...

I never thought...

about anybody breaking into the house again.

But I think one of the things that upset me,

really, was the thought of someone being in my house.

And, you know, your house is, sort of, violated, really, isn't it?

Somebody comes into your own space,

and that was, I think, one of the things that upset me.

And, you know, that's not a very nice experience.

It's enough to frighten anyone, but Jean's a tough cookie.

She hasn't always lived in South Wales

and her experiences overseas have put things into perspective.

I worked abroad in Nepal,

in the Himalayas, for about 25 years.

I worked in a Christian medical hospital.

I mean, there were times, too, when it was quite hard

and, you know, it wasn't always joy and sunshine,

but, you know, I worked in the Christian mission,

I'm a Christian and I believe that this is what God wanted me to do.

And, you know, I believe that we had strength every day to carry on.

When it was pretty hard going, sometimes. Yeah.

I think it's fair to say that there's probably a few things

that could be done to the house to improve the security.

I would appreciate that very much indeed.

That would be very nice and very kind.

It's really upset me, talking to Jean.

She's a lovely woman,

who's given up so much of her life caring for others.

Now she's been burgled TWICE in just a few years

and some really sentimental things have been stolen.

We need to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

'So we'll get our experts on board to help make Jean feel safe

'in her home again.'

Back in Leeds, and we're about to give a security uplift to Ken's house

after he was burgled while he was asleep in bed.

Neil is already on the scene

and measuring up this open space at the back of the house.

Great stuff.

-Hi, Neil.

-Hiya, Dan.

-What's the plan?

The plan is we're going to block this off so nobody can walk through.

-Yeah.

-So I've made a gate. Going to hang the gate

and then we're going to put some feathered-edge fencing

just up here and then...

put some Prikka-Strip on top, so nobody's climbing over.

-Make it nice and secure for him.

-Good. Too easy, that, wasn't it?

-Yeah, yeah, it's just an open invitation for someone to walk through.

-Yeah.

Lots of stuff in the garden that they could use to break-in to the house.

There's lots of stuff to do in the house, as well, so...

-Yeah? What's the plan in the house?

-Alarm system.

He's got a couple of cats.

So we can't put any sensors in any of the rooms,

cos they've got free run of the house,

so we're going to put contacts all over entry points

and cover it that way. So if anybody comes in through the window,

like they did last time, it will start ringing the bells outside.

-Great. I'll give you a hand.

-OK, then.

-Coats off.

'Time to roll up me sleeves and get involved.'

-I think we could do with some wigs!

-My head's a bit cold, as well.

You need a hat, mate!

DRILL WHIRS

There she goes.

-I love watching you work, Neil.

-Do you?

-Yeah, yeah.

You're like the Picasso of fence posting.

-Something wrong there.

-DAN LAUGHS

I've chickened out and put a hat on!

I've had enough. I'm freezing.

I'm not just here for me good looks.

-You're wasted doing this presenting thing, Dan.

-I know.

-I'm proud of that.

-Yeah.

-That's looking good.

-It is. It's good.

'I reckon that might be some of me finest handiwork.'

Done.

'I'm pretty positive no burglar will go through this gate,

'but to make sure they don't try to go over it,

'we're covering the top with some defensive spikes.

'Hedges can provide privacy for your home,

'but they can also provide cover for burglars.

'So good guy Aaron is giving these the chop.'

I mean, these leylandii, they're murder, aren't they?

Well, they are if you let them get on top of you.

Yeah, yeah. So I think long-term this is going to go,

but for the meantime we've reduced it down, so that everyone can see.

If there's a burglar hanging about, anyone passing will see them.

'Neil's upgrading the alarm

'with one that's a lot easier to switch on and off.'

ALARM BLARES

To turn the alarm on, all you do, top button, turns your alarm on,

you'll hear it beep once outside.

To turn it off, the bottom button.

You'll hear it beep twice outside.

That plus sign there is your emergency alarm.

If you're in bed or you want to set your alarm off for any reason,

just keep your finger on that, three to five seconds,

and it sets your alarm off.

-Neil, all done?

-Done.

-Fantastic.

-Right, so we've got it all nice and secure.

-Yeah.

-Can't get in round the back.

-No.

-Alarm's in. Nice one.

Yeah, yeah. Spot on. It's... I've enjoyed this one.

'Nice one, Neil.

'But he's conveniently left me to get on with the clearing up.

'Does Keeley have to do this?!'

Got it.

'Hopefully, all of this graft will bump up that security score.

'I'll have you know I do my fair share, thank you, Dan.

'Now, back in South Wales, Crime Reduction Officer Mary

'is on a mission and is heading to Jean's house.

'Mary is casting her expert eye over the house

'to suggest any improvements we could make.

'It's a neighbourly area

'and Jean's gardener was first on the scene

'to fit a lock to the gate.

'But there's still plenty to do.

'So what's Mary's assessment?'

When I've looked at the house,

she has got multi-locking windows and doors.

However, they've targeted the back door.

They haven't been able to get through it,

they've tried to chisel their way through,

-hasn't come through, but they've actually gone through the panel.

-So the lock's OK...

-Yeah.

-..but we're just a bit concerned about the panel?

-But the panel.

There's stepladders here. Easy to use...

if a window was open. Ideally, the stepladder and the ladders,

I would like to see chained up.

The shed near the back of the house is open

and it's got numerous tools in there.

Ideally, for this property, I would like a burglar alarm,

because if an alarm went off in this property,

her neighbours would pop in, they'd have a look.

"Jean, are you OK? What's happening?"

-Particularly now they know that she's been burgled.

-Exactly.

So there's a few basic things we can put in -

-an alarm, secure the door and maybe some extra padlocks...

-Yes.

-..on the back of the house.

-Just to make things more difficult.

And we're replacing her old security light,

so we've got a lot to be getting on with.

I'm calling in the cavalry -

we've got a band of four merry men to fix up the house.

Tony starts by tackling the gate,

to beef up its security and stop burglars getting round the back.

-Hi there, Tony.

-Hi.

-My, you're a tall boy, aren't you?

-How did Dan cope?

-Not very well.

-Did you get him a little stool to chat to you?!

-I did, yeah.

'Sorry, Dan! OK, we've sorted the gate.

'It's now got not one, not two, but three locks on it.'

Slow and steady. There you go.

'That should do it.

'And it's all hands on deck to help the lovely Jean.

'Lyndon's trying to shed some light on the situation.'

-And this is for the security light outside?

-For the security light,

which we're going to put just the other side of the waste there.

'A security light will help brighten Jean's back garden.

'Potential burglars won't have anywhere to hide.

'Tony's changing the locks on the bathroom windows.

'They're extra secure ones, no-one is getting in here in a hurry.

'And it's a good job those locks are going on -

'I'm not sure this beautiful cat, Poppy, would put intruders off!'

This says it all.

'Hang on, I haven't seen Tony for a while.'

-Tony?

-Hello?

What are you doing in there?

I'm fixing the toilet roll holder.

-Is this security?

-Erm, yes.

Honestly!

-You big softie.

-Well...

-Go on, go on.

She's got them wrapped round her finger, all these boys.

'And deservedly so.

'These boys really are going the extra mile to help Jean out.

'There's activity all over the house.

'I've got the boys fitting high-security padlocks

'and securing those ladders, making sure burglars can't get a leg up.

'There's also a house alarm, which we're tweaking to make cat friendly,

'so there's no excuse not to set it now.

'And alarm expert Gavin talks Jean through the easy-to-use system

'to make sure she's got it.'

And it'll tell you that it's going into exit mode.

'So, how's Jean feeling now?'

Well, Jean, I have never seen so many men

all running around after one woman as today!

I know, it's been absolutely fantastic.

All these men doing all these lovely jobs for me,

which I've really, greatly appreciated.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate them.

How are you feeling about things now?

Well, I'm feeling a lot happier.

I feel that my home is much more secure than it was before.

I still, you know... I'm a bit apprehensive,

and, you know, the thought of having been burgled twice

in such a short period of time has unnerved me quite a bit.

And, out of my misfortune,

I've been blessed with all of these things that have been done for me.

And I'm just so grateful.

I'm so much happier that we've been able to set things straight

for Jean and that she's actually got something positive

out of this experience.

Although I'm pretty sure that Poppy will be glad to see the back

of all our drilling!

The bottom line is Jean feels and is safer again in her home.

Back in Leeds and it's crunch time.

Nick has returned to Ken's house to inspect our handiwork and hopefully

raise that very poor original security score of just four.

So my man Aaron's been hard at work on the hedge.

Yeah, it's about two foot lower and it opens up surveillance

for all the upper floors of the houses opposite.

Further improvement, we're looking at layers.

The layers of protection for this property...

some of which were already in place, the doors, the lights,

but the burglar ignored them.

He just takes potluck,

goes round the back, and he drops lucky there,

because the windows are rubbish.

And there was no barrier to him getting round there.

-See what you make of it now.

-Let's have a look, then, shall we?

'It doesn't get much better than a double thumbs up from Nick!

'I knew that'd impress him. It just needs a lick of paint now.

'He seems to be having a thorough inspection.'

Right, let's see what he thinks of our handiwork.

Nick, what do you reckon?

Very impressive, that gate, Dan.

-Did you do that yourself?

-Oh, aye!

-You did?

-Yeah.

I can't see anywhere where all the matchsticks

-have been stuck together, it's fantastic.

-Yeah, yeah, thanks(!)

-You put the spikes on the top, didn't you?

-No, I built the fence!

Just cos... Just cos I'm on telly, don't make me Lionel Blair!

-I can do a bit of graft!

-It's very good.

-Yeah?

It is the layer that is required

to stop people from that direction getting into this back garden.

Now, Ken's place is under renovation at the moment,

so a lot of this will change,

-but we've screwed down the windows as a temporary measure.

-Yeah.

So we've done what we can.

We know what's going to happen to this,

it's going to have good quality window fittings in it.

Last time you gave the place a four out of ten for security.

Bear in mind, there's renovations going on.

Now that you've seen what we've done,

what would be your security assessment out of ten now?

Four previously, we're ignoring the windows,

we know what quality they're going to be,

we know they're going to be done in the next few days...

I think this can...

-I'm going to give this an 8.5.

-Oh, fantastic!

-Is that my best ever?

-Oh, fantastic!

-Is it?

-I'm pleased with that.

-It might be my best ever, that.

-Yeah.

I know Ken's going to be pleased with that, as well.

That's going to be really good.

'I'm chuffed by that new score.

'Let's hope the man of the house is, too.'

-Ken, you all right?

-Dan, how do you do?

-Not bad, not bad.

Let's see what you think.

Well, it's quite a difference, that, isn't it, really?

I mean, lose a bit of privacy, but security.

-A lot better now.

-Yeah.

Now, it's been a couple of days since the burglary. How have you been?

I think house security is something you take for granted.

Until something happens you. And then you realise, in fact,

yeah, where the shortcomings are and what needs to be done.

Well, one of our main concerns

was how easy it was just to wander through to the back.

-So let's have a look-see.

-OK.

-Ken, before there was absolutely nothing here.

-Open space, straight the way through.

No, it's perfect and it blends in so well with everything else.

Oh, fantastic. So I can tell you that Nick was impressed, as well.

Last time, when he came round here, straight after the break-in,

-he only gave the place four out of ten for security.

-Really?

Now that he's seen the improvements, he's given it 8.5 out of 10.

That's very heartening.

Twice as secure, it would appear to be, then,

-if it's gone from 4 to 8.5.

-Yeah.

So that can only be good.

And it's what it's done to the house,

but what it's done to me, as well, being able to feel that more secure.

Cos I think that's the important thing. So, yeah, everything seems to be brilliant.

-Thank you very much to everybody.

-Hey, no problem.

-And to your guys who've done it all so quickly for me, as well. See you.

-All the best.

-Cheers.

'At the moment, the police investigation

'into this ruthless burglar hasn't turned up any leads.

'But the case is being held on file.'

With Ken's hedge cut down to size,

there's no more hiding in the shadows.

Burglars, take note.

And it's great that Jean's a lot happier now

that she's got a cat-friendly alarm.

Purr-fect result. That's it for now.

-Bye-bye.

-See you next time.