Episode 14 Crimewatch Roadshow

On the programme today: We need your help to find the thugs who

beat up a man just metres from his Hello and welcome to Crimewatch

Roadshow, the programme that makes Britain safer by putting criminals

behind bars. For that to happen, we do need your help. On today's

programme: A woman is dragged down an alleyway in broad daylight in a

terrifying attack. We are out on the road with Gwent

Police, clamping down on the scrap trade.

And a regular Friday night out that ended with a shocking attack on a

pensioner just metres from his front door.

We are live and our roadshow team is travelling the country reporting

on crime which is happening where you are. Yesterday, they were in

Newport today they are further down the M4. Where are you today? Good

morning, we are in Swansea down at the waterfront at the SA1

Waterfront Development. It looks more like CSI Swansea. These guys

are part of a specialist forensic unit operated jointly by Gwent

Police and South Wales police force. We are going to put them to the

test. I am going to leave a carefully placed footprint here.

They have then got to retrieve that and analyse it later in the

programme. We will find out how they get on and a few moments. I am

also joined by BBC Wales reporter Nicola Smith. Good morning. As well

as putting the CSIs through their paces, we will be revealing some

forensic tricks that amateurs like us can even try.

It all sounds interesting. Our first appeal today. A pensioner

went for his weekly Friday-night out. He took the precaution of

getting a taxi back to his home in Swansea but that would not be

enough to make sure he got there safely.

There was a bang. Where is your money, mate? Is a cowardly attack

and Robert had no chance of defending himself. It is the last

thing you expect coming home from an evening out. I was literally

It was the evening of Friday 4th May and 66-year-old Robert

Mainwaring had gone to the Idlib in Swansea -- the social club in

Swansea. We meet every Friday night. It is summer we have been going for

the last 20 years. In the last 20 years Robert has been going to the

Penlan Social Club, not once has he had any trouble. We go there for

karaoke and then the entertainment is on until about 11:30pm. The new

drinker pure beer and go. I have a taxi home normally. There were a

few there but they were all booked so I phoned one. In all fairness,

they were there in five minutes. The taxi could possibly be black in

colour. It made a larger taxi. We are keen to speak to any taxi

drivers who had any fares in this area at that time. The taxi-driver

is important because he could have witnessed what happened next.

Robert describes the taxi-driver as being 5 ft 10 tall, stocky build,

short dark hair with a local accent. After dropping his friend Mark off,

the taxi headed for Robert's Street and dropped him of yards from his

front door. Robert was looking forward to getting home. �5 please.

As I got out of the taxi, I put the 10 pound note in my back pocket. I

was thinking when I get home, what will they be in the fridge to eat.

After a couple of pints, I get the munchies and that is what I was

thinking about! But as he walked to his front door, Robert noticed two

men walking towards him. I did not think anything of it. I was only

five doors from my house. But as the men approached Robert, they

asked him for some money. Mate, give us a fiver. I was like, on

your bike. They must have come behind me and elbowed me between

the shoulder blades. You see stars. Ban. My nose hit the pavement. My

cheeks were all grazed and bleeding. My nose was bleeding. I was knocked

unconscious but I felt dazed. I felt them rifling through my

pockets. All this for a tenner. are looking for two suspects aged

in their early twenties. Both were white. They were of average build

wearing dark clothing. I managed to get myself up eventually, pushed

myself up with one hand and staggered into the house. My eight

arm was really sore and bleeding heavily. It was a hell of a gash. I

got some kitchen roll and started mopping the blood off me to stop it

from dripping all over the house. He in a state of shock, Robert

managed to climb the stairs to get help from his wife, Angela. He said,

you have got to help me, I have been attacked. His face was

scratched and his glasses were broken and he was shaking. It was

my elbow that was helping -- hurting more than anything. Angela

cleaned Robert up and they went to bed. After an unsettled night, they

went to and E where Robert was told his elbow was broken. -- they went

to accident and emergency. If it is a cowardly attack. Robert sustained

injuries. All this has been carried out for �10 and Robert stood no

chance of defending himself. It has made him a lot more nervous and he

has been more quiet. Of it has shaken him up a lot and it shook me

up as well. I would not feel safe walking somewhere at night on my

own, not now anyway. I do not know if I'll ever get over it. Time will

tell, I suppose. As it is now, they have changed my life.

Detective Constable Gareth Phillips is investigating. The missing piece

of the jigsaw is the taxi-driver, you really need to speak to him?

Yes, we are extremely keen to speak to him as they witnessed. He is

described as middle-aged, white in colour with a local accent. He has

not done anything wrong, has he? That is correct. He may have seen

the two suspects on the night and we need to speak to him in regard

to that. He picked Robert and his friend up from Penlan Social Club

around midnight. You think the taxi driver may have parked up to check

his change after dropping him off so describe the taxi to us. Robert

describes the taxi as being dark in colour but slightly larger than the

usual car. Anyone around the area at that time, we are extremely keen

to speak to them as well. If other members of the public have seen

anything regarding the taxi or the two suspects, we are keen to speak

to them. Howl is Robert now? obviously, it was a serious attack

and he sustained serious injuries. It is a rare incident in that area.

If anyone knows anything, please contact us. Thank you. If you know

anything, the numbers are on the screen.

Now time for today's wanted faces. The first one is Kevin Anthony

Bates. He is wanted for questioning by offices in North Yorkshire in

connection with a series of burglaries at Post Office and

convenience stores. He is originally from the Sunderland area

but he could be living anywhere in the UK. This is Paul Joseph Cabot.

He is wanted in conspiracy to supply a Class A drugs. He speaks

with a Liverpudlian accent and is believed to have access to a

property in Thailand. 29-year-old Ismail Ismail has been

on the run for the last nine years. He is known to have connections to

the Leicester area but detectives believe he could be anywhere in the

country. The last one today is this guide,

Paul Fanon. Detectives in Merseyside want to speak to him. He

speaks with a Liverpudlian accent and has connections to the

Merseyside, will and Sussex areas. If you recognise any of these

wanted faces, give us a call on 0 at 800468999. Or you can text us on

63399. Text CW and then a space. If you do not put the space in the

message will not get through to us. And you can e-mail us as well. Now

back to Nicola. Thank you. As you can see we have

gone all CSI here this morning. These guys are from a specialist

forensic unit. They are working hard on Dave's footprint. I have

been behind the scenes at their laboratory to see that they are

making their mark on crime, catching criminals who literally

This is the joint scientific investigation unit in Bridgend and

we are here to see the cutting-edge work they are doing with shoe

prints. Everyone knows that fingerprints and the night I unique

but for the last few years, forces in Gwent have been using state-of-

the-art technology to identify shoe prints. Suspects not only have

their fingerprints and DNA reported -- recorded, but also their shoe

prints. We are dressed in crime scene suits and we have our hands

and feet covered, why are we dressed like this today? Are we are

going to take you through the whole process of a mock seen to follow

the path off ace that examination. Every individual walks stiffly and

that has an impact on the tread of their shoes. With careful analysis

of footprints, the police can match not only the brand of Sue and the

size but also who has been wearing it. We are about to get a

demonstration. We are in the crime scene. Straight away, what you see?

We can see the heavily contaminated marked here. There is a faint mark

here which we could use a special machine to enhance. The equipment

uses static electricity to lift up even the faintest of marks on to a

special metallic seat -- a special metallic sheet. The technology has

enabled police to secure convictions. Last year, two men

were convicted of murder after they kicked a 26-year-old man to death

in a doorway in Swansea. Scientists were able to match a shoe print

left at the scene to a print held on at the data base following a

previous arrest. This is the electric status lifting operators.

You can see it is starting to go onto the floor now. If you gently

turn the dial all the way up you can see it start to come through.

And with the roller you get the air bubbles and you can see it is

sticking out onto the floor. Now lift it up. Then we can analyse

this with a lighting source. the metallic sheet will be analysed

later but even the shoe print on the floor which is not visible to

the naked eye can be seen when Stewart signs her high-intensity

light on to it. -- Stewart shrines a high-intensity light on to it.

will see if there are any identifiable features.

footprint is quite bright. There is a full impression on the floor. You

can see the zigzags and also the latter's formation. Now the print

collected on the metallic sheet can You can see that there is a double

impression. So we use these features, put them on to the

database to see if we can find a match. If you click on to the mains

Seoul where for me, please. That looks pretty similar. It has a zig-

zagged area in the heel. After the details are entered, the computer

narrows down the results. From here, we look at every individual record

and see if there is any parallel between the individual mark and the

database. It still needs a carefully trained eye to meet the

final match. If you go back to the first page, we will see if we have

missed anything. You being kind and telling me that I have? I am, yes.

This is the same pattern here. That Sue and that logo there indicates

that manufacturer. When research is done for real, and a shoe print

matches, it can be traced back to the wearer at the time of the

previous arrest. More importantly, it can place that person at the

scene of a crime. The work we have seen here today really can lead to

convictions. From murderers to burglars, this new technology is

making a difference in stamping out crime.

Members of the forensic team have been kept busy over the past few

days following a murder earlier in the week. It was on Tuesday that a

20-year-old man was stabbed to death. It happened near Bridgend

about 30 minutes from here. Dave Thomas is from the forensic unit.

Presumably you have been working around the clock? Yes, indeed. We

are fully supported by the Scientific Investigation Unit.

you are basically on the scene trying to find tiny clues to lead

to the person responsible? Yes, we use the arsenal of forensic

evidence to assist in the detection. And time is of the essence in this

case? You have to preserve evidence? The biggest challenge to

any forensic investigation is the elements, the weather, especially

in an outside investigation. Turning back to our mock crime,

Nicola has seen that footprints are nearly as important as fingerprints.

Footwear comes right behind fingerprints and DNA in terms of

value. And you can gather them from all sorts of services including the

bonnet of the car. We can see some fingerprints and palm prints. What

have they done with this footprint? And they have used a black powder

to develop the invisible foot print. They are looking for the individual

characteristics within the print. Then we will lift it with a black

Jell, and look for the unique characteristic. That is a very

clear image. Doesn't always work like that? Sometimes you only get

And a humble slice of bread with the trainer print gave you a clue,

didn't it? Yes, the burglar had climbed through a window and

stepped on the bread on the worktop. This identified him. He admitted 40

other offences. 40 offences cleared up all thanks to one slice of

bread! And if we look at this point, you have covered it with a plaster

mixture, which is not quite dry yet. Working on live television, we

prepared for this. So we did another one earlier. If I put my

foot up, you can see that that is my trainer print. So what happens

to that? To the naked eye, it is hard to see. We would clean it off

and get soil samples. We are looking for the unique

characteristics, the small detail, the where Patten that will tell us

exactly who it was. -- read -- the wear pattern. We have a massive

database, and we categorise things and code them so that we can find

them on the database. We are back later, but it we will be looking at

how we can turn a CSI ourselves. Back to Rav.

A now, thieves who have a knife or a good painting. Iain Watson is

investigating her a theft of a painting. Thieves smashed a window

of the Stanley Spencer Gallery in a Cookham. There were a lot of high-

value paintings there. Do think they specifically targeted this

one? This painting was on display, so it is not clear why they wanted

just this one or any others. But they only stole one, which although

it wasn't as valuable as others, it is worth a lot. This artist does

have some extremely valuable paintings, the most expensive being

over �5 million? This painting isn't worth that much,

but it is still worth a lot, and it has a great deal of sentimental

value to the gallery and the owners of it. Let's go through a few

details. It is called Cookham From Englefield, painted in 1948, and

there are some details as to why it is called that. It shows the view

of the cedar of Lebanon tree from a private garden in Cookham. It was

commissioned by the grandfather of the current owners and has been in

the family since that time. family who owned this lent it to

the gallery, didn't they? It has been on a semi-permanent loan to

the gallery, so it is on display for everyone to see - or at least

it was. And someone has put up a reward? Yes, the reward for �10,000

has been put up by anonymous donors. Any information that leads to the

safe recovery of the painting. Hopefully someone will recognise

this and have seen it around and can get it back to its rightful

owner. If you do have any information, please do get in touch.

Or alternatively you can call Crimestoppers on a 0800 555 111.

Still to come: We are out with Gwent police on the trail of the

scrap metal dealers. And she was dragged down an

alleyway in broad daylight. Help us catch the men who did this to a

Swansea woman. But before all that, they do say that in this country we

have more CCTV cameras than anywhere in the world, so if you

are a crook, there is no escaping them.

KFC in the London borough of Newham, January this year. This guy had

apparently complained about his food, and now he is back, and he is

not happy. He jumps on the counter and kicks the tills. He caused �700

of damage. Do you know this disgruntled diner? Be a good egg

and let us know. March this year, and a private home

in Mars grave. A thief wearing a furry hat and glasses takes his

chances and enters the kitchen. Next he goes into the living room,

puts on a Glover and grabs a handbag next to a lounge chair. He

stuffs it in his top. You will notice that the telly is on. Police

say his accomplice could have been chatting to the elderly owner at

the front door. He checks the coast is clear before leaving. Someone

must know him. Next, Richmond in Surrey. Just

before Christmas last year and a high street chemist. It seems this

man still had some prisons left to get. He goes for an expensive

designer gift Set and hides it in his jacket. And another one.

Christmas sorted. Police say he nicked �70 worth of goodies. He has

distinctive logo on his jacket, so if you know him, name him.

Now to our next appeal, and South Wales police need your help to

catch a guy who has been exposing himself to a number of women at a

bus-stop in Swansea. For obvious reasons, we weren't going to the

sordid details, but I am joined by Anthony Evans who is investigating

this. He has been approaching lone females at the bus-stop in the

Carmarthen Road area of Swansea. have actually got some CCTV

pictures, heavily pixilated to hide the identities of people around him.

You can see that these pictures were taken before and after one of

the January incident. He is wearing a dark jacket and trousers,

trainers and a green hooded top. We get a good clear shot of his face

as he turns around. All of the women have identified him as the

man they saw. Does he say anything? No, he doesn't say anything, he

exposes himself and then runs off. We believe he might know the area

because all of the incidents are occurring in the same area. And you

need to catch this guy before he moves on to something even more

serious? Yes, that is of great concern to us. If you know this guy,

you know what to do. The number is on the screen. Or you can call

Crimestoppers anonymously on an 0800 555 111.

Time for a progress report on our appeals. After we showed you a CCTV

have someone shoplifting in Hampshire, a woman in her thirties

has been arrested and charged with theft. It does work. And we

appealed for information on the whereabouts of Lorraine Barnham,

wanted in connection with more than 100 offences of fraud and theft.

Somebody has contacted us with a promising sighting which police are

following up. We will keep you posted. Now, we should all feel

safe when we are out and about in broad daylight, but for one Swansea

woman, the routine walk to the local shops became a terrible

I was petrified. I thought they were going to kill me. It has

changed her life for the worse. Thursday 10th May this year, Julie

from Swansea had just been to the local supermarket. But she had to

go out again to do so more shopping. Julie would have left her home, out

of the back garden on to this lane which leads on to Mansel Road. At

the end of this brick wall, she would have walked from that Lane on

to Mansel Road. Then she would have turned left and gone down to the

roundabout. Julie then crossed the main road and past the Colliers

Arms towards the railway bridge. She would have walked along this

road, under the railway bridge, and then on towards the lane. We

believe it was at this point that the use saw her, because she

certainly saw two of them. I saw two boys at the bottom of the road.

I stopped, but I thought, it is nothing, carry on going. I went

further on and looked again, and they had gone. But they were lying

in wait, about to put Julie through a terrifying ordeal. The they

grabbed me and slapped me in the face or punched me. They kept on

dragging me up the lane, and I'd thought I was going to be raped,

petrified. He was pulling on my back, pulled me and I landed on

this big log. The boy said, leave your bag or we will keep you in the

face. I let my bag go, and do just Initially she didn't know what the

motives were, and she was terrified. She tried to scream, but on doing

so, the Mail has with some force put his hand across her face, and

this caused her nose to bleed. seemed like hours, but it was only

about 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Then I just got up and ran to the edge

of the lane. They stole her handbag and everything in it. I watch,

cards, my purse with �130 in it, photos of my children and

grandchildren. It is unusual for the area, and it was a vicious

attack. Julie was alone and she was concerned that she was going to be

raped. This attackers had a profound impact on Julie's life.

Since it happened, she has been too afraid to go out alone. I never

thought anything like that would happen. None at all. Never. Just

walking, you wouldn't think it would happen to you. I thought oh

was going to be raped or killed. I was thinking, what will my children

think now they haven't got a mother? I don't know what they

would have done. Detective Constable Anthony Jones is the

investigating officer on this case. Thank you for joining us this

morning. A horrific attack on Julie. Remind us again of the descriptions.

Our first suspect is a white man in his early twenties, about 5 ft tall.

He is of stocky build, short cropped ginger hair, freckles. He

was wearing a white hooded top, blue denim jeans and white training

shoes. The only description we have of the second suspect, he was again

a white man in his mid-twenties, medium build, short dark hair and

was wearing a blue hooded top with stripes on the sleeves, possibly

Adidas. What is shocking about this is that it happened in broad

daylight. That is pretty reckless behaviour. That is correct. It was

a particularly shocking and cowardly attack by two men on a

defenceless woman going about her daily business. It happened in

broad daylight, and we are desperate to trace the people

responsible, and we are looking for anybody with information to contact

us. How is duly now? She was extremely distressed, and it is

pure luck she didn't suffer more serious injuries. Thank you very

much Updating us on that. You have heard the appeal there. Please get

When something terrible happens as a result of crime, of course, the

victim and their family have to deal with an awful lot of stuff.

Sometimes it can be the trigger that drives them to campaign to

make changes for the better. That was the case for Michael Brown. His

daughter, Clare, was brutally murdered in 2009. It is something I

remember well because I covered the story at the time for BBC North

West tonight and it was a truly shocking case.

Clare Wood was murdered in 2009. She had been strangled and set on

fire by her ex-boyfriend George Appleton. The 36-year-old mother

from Salford met him on the internet and did not know he had a

history of domestic violence. He subjected her to months of abuse

and death threats before killing her.

We are joined now by Clare's father Michael Brown. Welcome. Tell us

about your campaign. My campaign was for as much as my daughter met

her end violently, George Appleton had a history of domestic violence

and I could not understand why my daughter could not have been warned

that he had this. I have campaigned to out domestic violence. If you

are in a domestic violence situation, you should be able to

ask the police and be told by the police that this man has done this

in the past and may possibly do it again in the future. This has been

trialled by a few police forces in the UK, how has it gone? I have

been in touch with Greater Manchester Police and Gwent Police

and I am very heartened by those. It is also being trialled in

Wiltshire and Nottinghamshire for a year to see if it makes a

difference to the crime figures. The crime figures you mention,

there are some shocking statistics. Apparently two people a week are

killed by their current or former partner in England and Wales. That

is heady stuff. You are saying, if your daughter had known about her

partner's violent past, she could still be with us today. Yes, she

could have steered clear. It would have empowered her to make an

educated decision whether to come or go. I believe she would have

gone. Really, you feel that you could save other lives by doing

this. If this is rolled out, other people could be saved? Most

certainly. A lot of the women in the situation that they are in are

screaming for help and not getting it. If this could save just one or

two lives, my campaign would have been worth it. You are not going to

stop this, are you? No, not -- I am not. I will trumpet it. And by and

large it has been positive? Most certainly. Are a must thank the

British media, the television and newspapers for the publicity I have

had over the last year. It has been really heartening. Thank you for

joining us today. Now let's go back to Swansea and Nicola.

Just over a year ago, Gwent Police launched a campaign to enforce the

rules that no scrapyard should accept metal from anyone without a

valid form of ID. Since then, all councils in Gwent have adopted that,

no yd, no cash scheme. We followed went police officers to see how

they are playing their part in the crackdown.

In an attempt to stamp out metal theft, Gwent Police are running

Operation Ignite. Teams of officers are supported by several partner

agencies, responsible for everything from vehicle safety to

Revenue and Customs. Today's operation is targeting those who

collect metal door to door and there are teams stationed at

several scrapyards across the county. If people bringing it in

have got to prove where they picked it up from and where they are

taking it too. We stopped them prior to moving into the yard and

then we check what they have got on board. Tracking stolen metal can be

incredibly difficult so the Operation Ignite team use every

tool available to stop suspicious vehicles. En route to the first

sight and by chance, Sergeant Simon Clark spots a vehicle laden with

scrap-metal. This is all from his unit but he has also said he has

had it given to him. What the gentleman is saying is that he has

got his own unit at the back of this House and the persons have

just dropped this of. But it is a legal requirement for dealers to

keep records of where the scrap they are carrying comes from. If

they do not it is breaking the law. He should have records showing us

where the stuff has come from. This is the type of stuff which is

stolen from people's gardens. Although there is not any evidence

that this is stolen, the dealer will not be taking a further.

knows that he will be reporting for a summons and the metal will be

seized. The seized metal is sold on and goes to fund the multi-agency

operation. Police have set up four checkpoints in the Caerphilly area

and are pulling over any vehicle carrying metal on board. The team

have moved on to another checkpoint and on the way, officers stop

another scrap metal collector. They are suspicious because of the

number of bicycles on the back of the vehicles. You cannot just put

10 bikes from an address, that could be anything. You have got to

be specific. You have got so much on board today that I do not think

you can account for probably. He is not counting for some of the goods

on board say he is being reported for failing to keep records. We are

going to seize the lead. The traffic officers say he is likely

to be overweight. We are going to take him to a Weybridge. If an

overweight vehicle can be unstable making it a real danger on the

roads. Checks like these are used to make sure vehicles follow the

letter of the law. This ban is within its weight limit but the

Czechs do not end there -- this a van. Revenue and Customs staff

check that the vehicle is not running on an untaxed fuel called a

red diesel. They also make sure the van is roadworthy. We have done

some checks on the vehicle. It is not roadworthy. People have served

a prohibition notice on the vehicle. It basically means it cannot be

used on the road until the defects have been put right. But the multi-

agency approach to tackle metal theft is not popular with everyone.

All we are trying to do is keep the environment clean and tidy. We get

stopped for every little thing. I am not blaming the law, they have

got to go by the law but I am only trying to make a living. It is

idiots out their spoiling it for the rest of us. The it is not just

small dealers who fall under the eye of the operation. Everybody has

to comply to the same rules. Biscuit firm which owns this

vehicle was cautioned as the driver was unable to prove where the goods

on board had come from. It has been a successful day for the Operation

Ignite team with six loads of scrap seized. Today we stopped in the

region of 97 vehicles and persons. We were stopping them if they did

not have proper records. We were seizing their loads. We were taking

them to local scrapyards and those local scrapyards in turn will send

the funds into Gwent Police to help fund the operation in future.

Interesting stuff. It goes without saying that the vast majority of

scrap dealers are honest people who do stick to the rules. Back to our

mock crime scene here in Swansea. I guess the proliferation of CSI

drama programmes on TV have turned us into armchair experts. We are

not really but there are things you can do to preserve evidence if you

stumble across the scene of a crime. Say you get home, worst-case

scenario, the place has been turned over, what should you do? One of

the key things is the golden hour principle of protect and preserve.

That protect the evidence, preserves that for us and when we

come to investigate it, we can fully utilise our resources. It the

simple thing is shut the doors to the rooms which have been affected

and don't think I must tidy this It is the simple things that matter,

shutting doors, switching lights off. Those can be the things which

are key to the case. He is the evidence is outside, say it is a

footprint in the mud like we saw earlier and it is raining, of what

can you do to preserve it? We would always that things preserved but

sometimes it is not possible. If because of TV programmes awareness

has been increased. If there is a footprint on the floor you can put

a been laid over it. It is over rather than lying on it because

that would destroy it. Absolutely. You might find something as

innocent as a drinks bottle. know couplets often leave these

things that -- culprits often leave this at crime scenes. There is

evidence where they have drunk from it. If you see a cigarette butt and

you do not smoke, you must be suspicious. Used a rubber glove to

pick it up. It is protect and preserve. That is the key element.

If we do that we can maximise the benefit of forensic evidence. If

you protect and preserve, battered the way to do it. A-C and -- a

cigarette but can be laden with DNA which pinpoints the criminal. After

you have done the initial things, leave it to the experts to do the

detailed investigation. Some of that information hopefully is

useful to you. I will hand you back to Rav.

Thank you, I have time to give you a quick update. Some good news to

start with. Some potential names for the assault on Robert. The poor

fellow who ended up with a broken elbow for no reason. Potential

names have been passed forward to officers. We haps Sam -- we have

received some potential sightings of his male Ismail, the robber who

has been on the run for nine years. Dave and Nicola, what are you up to

tomorrow? We are making our way to Mid Wales where we will be looking

for your help to catch bank robbers. And we will be taking to the roads

of rural Wales to see how police are keeping bikers in check.

have kept the weather in check. It is starting to spit a little bit.

We have a packed programme tomorrow, make sure you join us. Fingers

crossed in Swansea for a nice, dry one. For more details had to our