Episode 7 Crimewatch Roadshow

We're live and standing by for your help to solve crime where you live.

Today, an overseas student working night shifts to make ends meet left

I really hope this guy gets caught soon, and maybe ever goes through

this again. And we are with West Midlands Police as they join forces

with East European office to combat cross-border crime. This vehicle has

no insurance, so this chap is committing an offence.

We're continuing our journey with the UK's police forces asking for

your help to hunt down the criminals who affect our everyday lives.

The mugger with a Friar Tuck haircut who struck seven victims. He was

choosing elderly ladies, easy pickings, I suppose. I just hope he

gets his comeuppance. And roadside rage as a man is

knocked to the ground by an angry driver, his worry is for the safety

of the female passenger. What has happened to me I have to deal with,

but she has to deal with that man's rage, and I hope that she can cope

with it, and if she can't, she should get in touch with somebody.

Today we're back in the West Midlands, and Sian and the team have

I may be in a secret location, but what I can tell you is that I'm

somewhere near Birmingham at the headquarters of the National

I'll be finding out how they trace a bullet back to

And we'll see the latest scanning kit

As you can see there's lots on solving gun crime today, and our

first appeal is to find the armed robber who confronted a student

I was just thinking about my mother at that second. I owe her a lot, and

I was thinking about her. The other thing I was thinking was, is this

it? Life over? Originally from Bangalore in India, he is now in his

third year studying aerospace engineering at Coventry University.

I always wanted to be a pilot. I always wanted to get into the

aerospace industry. Shashwath worked at a petrol station to fund his way

through university. It got me to interact with a lot of people, and

aid the bills. On the night of the 20th of April, around nine o'clock,

Shashwath found himself alone in the shop. It was a bank holiday Monday

the next day, so it is quiet. He had just sat down to text a friend when

he heard a noise. the next day, so it is quiet. He had

just sat down to text a friend I heard a click in the door, and I saw

it open, so I stood up. I couldn't see anybody, and I took a moment to

look down, and I saw some body crouched. The man put something in

the door to jam it open. I soon realised he had a mask on his face

and was covered with a hoodie, and he had a plastic bag in his hand.

CCTV shows the man standing up and making his way towards Shashwath at

the cash desk. He put the bag on the table, and said, put all of the

money in the bag. He had a gun. My eyes were on the trigger. I just

lifted my hands up, and I was thinking about my mum. He said,

nothing funny, nothing funny, put the money in the bag. He was waving

a gun, so I was really scared. I thought this was it, life is over.

Once the till was cleaned out, the gunman calmly turned and walked out.

He stopped at the door to remove the object he had used to prop it open.

Then I took a minute to sit down, and then I started breaking down and

breaking up. Though he made off with only a couple of hundred pounds,

police take armed robbery very seriously. By using a firearm, he

has put himself at considerable personal risk for not very much

money. This offence attract considerable sentence, and my team

are determined to put him behind bars. Since the robbery, Shashwath

has felt the separation from his mum in India more than ever. I used to

call her in the middle of the night to say hello, and she would ask if

everything is OK. My parents wanted to come here in the next month, and

I have had to tell them not to come, because I didn't want them to know

what is happening and what has been going on. I have just changed the

way I think, and I really hope this guy gets caught soon. I hope that

nobody ever goes through this again. Nick Dale, leading this

investigation, is with me now. He got away with only ?200. This is a

very serious offence, isn't it? That is right. By using a firearm, and he

has caused a lot of distress and risks a significant sentence. Is

this unusual for this part of commentary? -- Coventry?

Yes, very unusual to see a firearm used in this sort

It must have been extremely frightening.

A white man wearing a waist-length button jacket, a baseball cap

He's in his early 20s, of slim build with blue eyes and

He had a white gym glove and a JD sports bag that was ripped.

It was some sort of golf glove that he was wearing on his left hand. And

also a sports bag like this one, with a drawstring top. Those could

be vital in the attempted to get hold of this man. If you can help,

please get in touch. Now it's time to have a look

at today's Wanted Faces. First up today is this man,

64-year-old Allan Francis Goodin. He was jailed for three years

for 11 different offences including burglary, theft

and obtaining services dishonestly, He's failed to stick to

the conditions of his release Goodin is known to use at least 27

different identities and has links 44-year-old Russell Broughton was

sentenced to four years in prison in April this year for his role

in a fight at a bar in Birmingham. Broughton failed to appear

in court for sentencing He was last known to be in the

West Midlands area. Next is this man,

Michael John Hayes. Detectives in Dorset want to

question him in connection with a distraction burglary in which

an elderly lady had items stolen. The 59-year-old has connections

to Brighton but where is he now? And last up today is

24-year-old Roger Balint. Detectives want to question him

in connection with an incident in April this year in which a car

was driven into a moped, causing Balint has links to the Greater

Manchester area and the Isle of Man. He also has a bald patch

on the top of his head. If you know where any of them are,

make sure you pick up the phone. Some network

and mobile operators will charge. Or text us on 63399,

and you'll be charged Or you can send us

an e-mail to [email protected]. In the last ten years, the number of

gun-related offences have halved, and that's partly due to the

establishment of NABIS, the National The state-of-the-art labs here have

the technology to pinpoint the exact gun used in a crime and whether it's

been involved in previous crimes. Martin Parker is head

of forensics here. I am comparing a test fired bullet

on the left to a bullet recovered from a crime scene on the right. Why

is that so important? In the UK, it is difficult for criminals to get

hold of guns, so they are used repeatedly. By doing these tests, we

can link between scenes when the same gun is used, and when a gun is

recovered, we can link it back to the previous scenes it has been used

in. You mentioned test-firing yesterday. We filmed you carrying

out some test-firing in the shooting range next door. It looked like you

were shooting into a block. Talkers through what you were doing. That

was ballistics. I was test-firing a self loading pistol. The bullet here

is the bullet from that weapon, and I am comparing it with one from a

previous crime scene. Normally I would be looking down the

microscope, but you can see what I can see down the microscope on the

screen there. So you are lining up the ridges? Yes, they are marks from

the barrel. Will that be left from a barrel on a particular bullet? These

marks are unique. You can see it is like a supermarket bar code. The

marks are unique to that barrel. So what I can say looking at this,

comparing these two bullets, I can say conclusively that they were

fired from the same gun. So the gun you saw testified yesterday is

definitely the gun which fired that crime scene bullet. Thank you for

taking us through that. The threat from guns is ever evolving, and this

scheme -- seems incredible. 3D printers can be bought

on the high street and they are able Dr Simon Leigh

from the university of Warwick has You can download this from the

Internet or draw it to the machine, it turned into software commands,

and draws it out and builds up your part in 3-D. So it is difficult for

normal manufacturer where it takes a block and shades it down, this build

it up. And how long does this process take? Anything from 20

minutes to a number of hours, depending on the size of the parts.

Thank you for taking us through that. It will still be going

throughout the programme, and we're going to be coming back later in

that programme as well to check on this, so checking with us later on.

Now, we need your help to identify these criminals, and this is quite

upsetting. The robbers drag a staff member across the store, and one

pulls him into an aisle where he is beaten with a gun and punched

repeatedly. He is powerless to stop them grabbing cash from under the

till and emptying the cigarette display. They fill a bin liner with

tobacco is one of the men brandishes a black handgun. In just two

minutes, they take three grand in cash, cigarettes and alcohol.

Detectives believe the game comes from south-east London, and so the

gun has not been found. Were you on old road in Dartford that night? Did

you see these men running away from the shop? We need to know. November

last year, and two men appear to be having words in a West London

bookies. But things turn heated as one is pushed across the room into a

doorway. The scuffle is broken up, but moments later, the man in the

cap hits the other punter, knocking him into a gaming machine, which

falls over. Still on the ground, the victim is punished again. He seeks

refuge at the back of the shop, while his attacker rants and raves.

He keeps up his Thai raid until eventually he calms down and walks

out. -- he keeps up his tirade. If you know any of those crooks, get in

touch. Now to

a concerned onlooker who ended up It has affected me terribly. I keep

re-enacting it, that is the trouble. Thinking of all of the things I

should have done differently. On his way home from work one night

in March, Paul Grub got off the bus to pick up a takeaway. It is a

regular Friday night for me. That is what I usually do. I was looking

forward to having my Chinese and going home. Paul was minding his own

business at the bus stop when his night took a turn for the worse. A

card pulled up in front of me, and the man was smashing on the steering

wheel, raging in the car. He was obviously upset. He was in a proper

road rage. His girlfriend was frozen in the passenger seat. She wasn't

looking at him. She looked incredibly nervous. Then the driver

noticed that Paul was looking at him. I probably should have picked

up my takeout and moved away from the situation, but I was like a deer

in the headlights, looking at him. Without warning, the driver leapt

out of his car. The next thing I know, he dived out and punched me in

the face. he was doing. It was a straight left

to the right cheekbone. That was obviously something he knows how to

do. While Paul lay dazed on the pavement, the driver ran back to his

car and drove off at speed. I came home, I was bleeding a little bit. I

was obviously in a state of shock. I went to bed and when I got up in the

morning I could not see through my eye. That is when I went to

hospitals. This has affected me and I feel sorry for other people who

aren't as tough as me. It has upset me, it is a living hell. It has

taken some getting over. Police want to know who is responsible for this

attack on an innocent bystander. He has taken all his anger out on

Paul. It was an unprovoked attack and he did not deserve that. He is

described as a mixed race mail. Early 20s. About five foot six. The

car, we believe is a silver VW, either a golf or a polo but it is a

BW golf, polo style car. Police want to talk anybody he was in the

attack's car that night. Particularly the woman in the

passenger seat. She knows what went on. What has happened to me, I have

to deal with. But she has to deal with that man's rage. I hope she can

cope with it. If she can't, she should get in touch with it. She

knows who this man is and she knows why he was so angry and she might

know why he vented his anger out on Paul. We would appreciate if she

came forward and told as who this individual was and why he was so

angry on this day. Paul has yet to recover from this assault. I could

not believe anybody would just jump out of the car and punch somebody.

It is shocking. It is unbelievable you would just do that. It has

butted me. -- gutted. I would like to say to your man, he has punched a

63-year-old man in the face. When he is digging it up, I would like to

remind him that is who it was he punched. Sargeant Neata Simpson is

leading this investigation. The car is important, what is it you are

looking for? It is a Silver Volkswagen goal. There was a

passenger in the front, but you think there could have been more

people who could help you? Two passengers in the rear of the

vehicle. 28th of March, 11 B -- 11pm, Harborne, a busy part of

Birmingham, shops and people might be out and about. What direction was

that are heading off in? We believe people would have seen the vehicle

on the high street and it made off at speed towards Birmingham City

centre. Anybody who saw that car leaving Harbourne High Street on the

28th of March around 11 o'clock, please get in

We've still got a lot to bring you on this Tuesday morning.

We'll be putting a state-of-the-art plastic gun

we are dealing with somebody who looks like Friar Tuck. I see him

running over the road time and time again.

These might not be the uniforms you would expect to see in a police

station in Birmingham but these officers are a key part of this

operation. They are working alongside British police in this

week-long initiative targeting cross-border crime. Today we are

joint by two officers. One from Romania and one from Poland. We are

doing stop checks. Within minutes, the constable spots a hatchback he

wants to investigate. It is a foreign registered number plate.

Just going to see if it has insurance and what kind of license

this individual is driving on as well. Where do you live? We will

follow you. All the documents are in order and he is sent on his way.

This is just one of as many as 30,000 foreign registered vehicles

on UK roads at any one time. This operation is about helping police to

identify those being driven here illegally or being used by

criminals. It is about targeting criminality and not the community.

Most people who come over want to have a better life. I want to earn

money and pay their taxes and support their families at home. The

team are still out searching for any vehicles from European countries.

They spot a car with Romanian plates and go to investigate. Is it your

car? My cousin's car. This is where the cooperation between forces

really pays off. They step into question the driver in his own

language. Then a quick call to his colleagues in Romania reveals this

driver should not be on the road. This vehicle has no insurance so

this man is committing offences over here. The officers also doubt

whether his licence is genuine. This does not look real. You are under

arrest on suspicion of having a forged document. Basically I don't

believe that license is real and you are arrested for no insurance as

well. It goes to show how well this works because we cannot clarify if

he has or has not got insurance. If these officers were not here, he

probably would be still driving around on the roads with no

insurance. Although the police dropped any allegations the driver

had faked documents he was then found guilty and fined for driving

with no licence and no insurance. The operation has been hugely

successful. We have stopped over 3500 vehicles and just short of 200

arrests in a five-day operation and targeting those criminals was passed

of the objective of this particular operation. Superintendent Paul Casey

has come to joiners. Staggering statistics in that film. Huge

success? It was. What was incredible was not only the volume of vehicles

we stopped, but the 370 vehicles we seized, arrests, and also what was

important and part of the main object of this, 1100 new pieces of

intelligence we obtained involving foreign national and organised crime

groups. There was an excavator worth about ?160,000 and cigarettes. If

you have not got those off the streets, they could have been

dangerous? This was a public health concern, who knows what was

contained in those cigarettes. Why so vital you are working with

colleagues from Eastern Europe? We had colleagues from Romania,

Lithuania and Poland and it is about sharing intelligence and getting

that information and translating it into activities on the ground. All

44 forces in the UK took part in this. Intelligence is a word you are

using over and over again, it wasn't just about stop and search? No, it

is about tackling criminality and not the community. It is important

we have intelligence behind everything we can do to maximise

results. It is not just weapons or drugs

criminals will go to great lengths to get across borders, the trade in

species is big business to traffickers. But pioneering

scientists are using cutting edge techniques to hold wildlife

criminals. One of those scientists is Dr Natasha de Vere. What is this

project you are working on? Fighting wildlife crime using bar-coding. We

can use it to identify part of animals from Tony pieces. Poaching

is a massive issue. We can see some elephants and some of the elements

-- animals you want to protect? In Africa in 2013, 20,000 elephants

were poached. It is not sustainable, at the birth rate is lower than the

amount being killed. We can see some of the ivory being made into

furniture or something like that, but some people think animals have

bizarre medical qualities? Rhino horns, tiger bones, people think it

has properties that kills cancer. It doesn't, it has no value, apart from

on the animal. You only need a small sample of these animals or plants to

extract DNA. These are some of the samples but you think they are big?

You really do need a tiny, tiny fragments and you can get DNA to

identify. You could use this with border control if people are trying

to smuggle out something that is round-up and not obvious. They can

test it and match it up and see if it is endangered from that? The key

thing is to have a reference database. You take the plants and

animals that you know, take an unknown sample, match it and make an

identification. So far, where have you been? Been to Kenya. Not long

back from Kenya. This is with the guys in Kenya. They are trained

scientists and we go out and work out protocols that can be used in a

court of law. Now they can do that on their own and you can leave them

to it now they are trained? That is correct. Going to Mexico on Saturday

so that will be the next couple of weeks. Then those countries will be

carrying on the process over the coming years. It is a fantastic

project. For now, let's go to Sian in the West Midlands.

We are looking at the work of NABIS in taking guns off the streets. This

is in the armoury and that is why this location has to be kept top

secret. There are 1500 weapons in here from handguns to rifles. We can

find out more about the work of NABIS, by Detective Chief

Superintendent Iain O'Brien. What were you doing here? It is critical

for policing, it helps an investigating officer to understand

if the gun has been used previously in crime. We gain intelligence from

that examination which tells as if the gun can be linked to other crime

scenes, which is pivotal when you are making decisions. And we see

trends at NABIS from doing those examinations and we can understand

whether we need to change legislation or influence legislation

with the government. These ones have an interesting story? This is a 1911

Saint Etty and revolver. A weapon like this was used during the

disorders in Birmingham in 2011 and was seized as part of the

investigation into the shooting of the helicopter in the West Midlands

Police area. It is an anti-but a lethal weapon. You are talking about

changes into legislation, and it will be tightened up even further? A

trend we have identified is antique guns have been used by criminals.

Antique collecting of firearms is a legitimate pastime. But those self

loading pistols used in the First World War, that is the modern

version and there is very little difference between those weapons and

that is the dilemma. It has been fascinating. Many of the weapons

have come from different routes, and some of you believe have been found

in houses, heirlooms dating back to the Second World War is and the

families have found them and taken them down to the local police

station. That is the past, now let's head to the future and talk to Simon

about our 3-D gun. How are things going? The barrel has just finished

printing. And these can be incredibly dangerous, and illegal.

We have some filming showing a test-firing. Talkers through what

happened. That one was produced in a way that someone might do if they

had a printer at home, and when the trigger was pulled, the end of the

barrel exploded and parts went everywhere. That would be dangerous

to the person holding the gun. Thank you for showing us that this

morning. Even though these are plastic, they can be incredibly

dangerous, and they need to be detected. We will be looking at that

later. Now would you recognise a man with

a distinctive haircut? Police believe it's key to

tracking down a serial mugger. For a long time, I have thought

about him, I have seen him in my mind. To pick on elderly ladies like

this is despicable. Jean lives in Coventry, and at 84 years old, is

both active and independent. Early in March this year, she was on her

way to get her hair done as she did every month. Because it was such a

lovely day, I decided to walk to the headdresses. Always the same

hairdresser. I have been going there for 20 years. I came out of there

about one o'clock. Leaving the hair dresser, Jean walked back along a

stretch of pavement shielded from the road by trees. It was very

quiet. Sometimes there are people in their gardens, but there were no

people about at the time. I didn't see anyone until someone just

suddenly pounced. Without warning, her handbag was snatched. It was

such a shock, suddenly someone grabbed my bag off my shoulder. I

just screamed, no, no! And away he had gone. He was seen running from

the scene, rifling through the bag. Items were discarded as he ran from

the scene. Gene is not alone. Police believe the same man is responsible

for seven similar attacks. All of these crimes took place between 10am

and 1pm in a tight geographic grouping around that area of

Coventry. The crimes all had a massive impact on the victims as a

result of them being elderly victims, the oldest was 89. The

victims of this Munger have been left to deal with the shock and pick

up the pieces. I couldn't get into my own house because the keys were

in the bag that he had stolen. I had to have the locks changed

immediately on the door. Cancel my mobile phone. My bus pass was in

there, my driving licence. So much trouble that it causes you. If only

these people realised what they are doing. Jean's daughter Tracy has

seen just how much the attack has affected her mum. She came and

stayed with us that evening and for a few evenings after that, because

she was quite shaken by it all. For a long time, I have thought about

it, thought about him, seen him in my mind. I could see him running

across the road. Over and over again. Police are looking for a man

with a very distinctive and pronounced bald patch. The hair has

been described as quite short, dark brown or black, and balding around

the crown of the head, similar as one witness describes to a Friar

Tuck hairstyle. Gene is still coming to terms with what happened to her.

This is the last thing I would have expected walking along the footpath,

almost home. I hadn't seen anyone lurking about, but he had obviously

seen me. If they could catch him, I would feel safer for my mum and

anybody else elderly around the area. He was choosing elderly

ladies, easy pickings. I hope that he gets his comeuppance.

And I'm joined now by Detective Inspector Gareth Mason, who has

You're confident that the same person carried out these attacks?

It is unusual to have robberies in this area, and based on the fact

that it is lone females, all targeted at the same time of day,

all with the descriptions matching, suggested is the same offender. And

you think he could be local? Absolutely. The way that the

offender has moved as described by the witnesses, tight geographic

location, same kind of day, all suggest is local. He has been

described as white, in his 30s, five foot eight. His hair is short and

dark, balding around the crown, and it has been described as looking

like Friar Tuck. That is pretty distinctive. Do you think he could

strike again? There has been no offence since the beginning of

March, and hopefully that will carry on, but some witnesses described him

as having an appearance like a drug or alcohol addict, so he made a

chaotic life and may strike again. Thank you very much.

Now I'm joined by DC Jolene Podmore from Gwent Police who needs

your help to stop a very cheeky car thief.

Now this car thief has got a very specific way of working, hasn't he?

He turns up at garages and asks to test drive a car.

It is usually a garage, they attend as a couple and speak to the owner.

It's usually an Audi, Golf, BMW or Mercedes he asks to drive.

He gives false ID to get the garage to let him test drive the car

before then driving off and neither he or the car is seen again.

They are typically high-value cars. Yes, that's right. And on one

occasion, the audacity is unbelievable, Wattie Atchley did.

Tell me about that. Slightly different on this one. They arrived

at a garage and asked to test drive an Audi. They went for a very short

test drive. Then the male hands back the key to a garage owner, but it is

actually a false key, he switches them. The garage owner goes out into

his office, but an hour later, they come back and drive the car away.

They have been caught on CCTV. This is the fellow you want to identify.

This is the mail we want to identify and locate. He is approximately six

foot tall, in his late 30s. He and the woman with him both have very

strong Welsh Valley accidents. And we have an image of the woman as

well. This is her. She is in her mid-20s, quite a bit younger. She

has dark hair, and again, a strong Welsh Valley accident. And it is not

just a small area, this is all over. You are advising garage owners to be

on the lookout and to get in touch as well. That's right. Thank you

very much for joining us. Well, if you know who this brazen

duo are, then you know what to do. Get in touch using the numbers

on screen. Or you can call Crimestoppers

anonymously on 0800 555 111. We saw that 3-D gun being created,

and even though it is plastic, it has to be detected. And the

technology for that has been developed here at NABIS. You have

brought all of the kits today, and we have four volunteers who have

agreed to take part. One of them is carrying a plastic gun, and we are

going to test and find out which one very shortly. But first of all, talk

is through the kit. It is a radar system that was developed in

conjunction with the Metropolitan Police Service. They wanted a stand

of gun detector. This is probably the first capability of the type. It

works rather like the radar gun using the police using on the

streets when they are measuring the speed of cars. It sends a very low

powered beam of microwaves towards the target, the person you are

trying to screen, looks for the reflections and analyses them on the

computer for what it perceives are either threat items, guns,

improvised explosive device is, and it tries to reject things like

mobile phones and keys because every body has those. It is try to work

out whether it is threat or no threat. An impressive piece of kit,

and it can see through clothes. Let's have a look at it in action,

and talkers through what is happening here. We need to find out

which person is carrying the gun. It is interesting though, we can see

the images on the screen as well as the gun can slowly check out each

person here. The radar beam is overlaid on top of a normal image,

see you can see wave screening. It can see through the clothing. The

image can't, obviously. We can try to identify where there is a likely

threat. And no danger for anybody there. If you are worried about

mobile phones come you shouldn't be. This is thousands of times less in

terms of the power it outputs than a mobile phone. It is barely

detectable. We saw it turn red there. Can the person in the grey

suit with the pink tie step forward, please. And are you carrying the

gun? Yes. Let's have a look. The technology in action. Thank you all

for taking part, and thank you for explaining it.

Russell brought in, who police want to it speak to, police are following

up a positive lead. And another one of our Faces, wanted in connection

with a distraction burglary, great information about him this morning.

Plus you remain remember last week that we showed you footage of a lady

in a wheelchair who was burgled at a department store. Positive sounding

new leads from that case. Thank you to every single one of you who has

got in touch. Now, Sian, where are you

and the team heading to next? Rav, tomorrow takes me back home as

we join Wales' biggest police force. I'll be in South Wales finding

out how emergency crews are being hindered by the very

people they are trying to help. And there'll be more fraudsters

caught in the act on BBC One in an hour,

stay tuned for Claimed and Shamed. If you want to find out how you can

help with any of the crimes on today's programme,

head to the website. Finally, let's take one last look

at those Wanted Faces. Do you recogonise anyone

in our rogues gallery? We're getting good results

already on this year's roadshow. We are about to find out whether

they can cook. You're going to love it.

Smashed it. Yum-yum-yum.