Episode 14 Caught Red Handed

Thieves will steal our cars, our valuables,

just about anything they can get their hands on.

To cut down on crime and anti-social behaviour,

police and other agencies are using new technology and tactics

while the bad guys are getting caught in the act.

I can see the man actually commit the robbery. Lovely, thank you very much.

Local councils, shops and businesses are laying some traps of their own.

Why should we feel frightened for the rest of our lives?

And the general public too can help unsuspecting crooks

-get their comeuppance.

-No way are you getting away.

We did it for everyone else that she might be stealing from.

We will name and shame you.

So anyone who's up to no good had better think twice.

They might just get caught red handed.

Today:

Prepare for a shocking sight as two cowardly men with knives

target a defenceless grandmother.

But have no fear, Trude puts up the fight of her life.

This is it. I remember saying, "This is it,"

but let it go down fighting.

They picked the wrong garage and the wrong woman to rob.

Also today - a specialist thief steals laptops from offices.

You can see there's a white cable hanging

out of the bottom of his T-shirt and a suspicious rectangular item.

Laptops may be replaceable but the loss of what's in them

can have serious affects.

He's hurt a lot of people.

And, OK, we know thieves will take anything they can get hold of

but giant bananas? Really?

The village of Knowle on the North Devon coast.

It's the autumn.

The tourists have left and things have quietened down.

A beautiful part of the world.

But one evening, a local garage faces a dark threat.

This security camera is recording the scene

inside the Knowle garage shop.

The manager, Trude, is about to close up for the night.

What happens next is shocking.

Trude's no security guard.

She is just an ordinary shopkeeper, a grandmother, and she's all alone.

Two robbers suddenly storm in and attack her.

One's armed with a knife, the other with a meat cleaver.

But it's important to know, although these are violent criminals,

Trude somehow manages to avoid getting hurt.

In fact, terrifying as this is,

we'll see how the tables are about to turn on these criminals

with the help of police technology

and the courage of the woman they're attacking.

It's hard making a living out here.

Why should they come and take what's not theirs? I was angry.

Detective Inspector Dave Atkinson

of the Devon and Cornwall Police is also angry.

They know that Trude is in there by herself.

She's a 65-year-old grandmother

and yet they put her through an absolute nightmare and deserve everything they're going to get.

Trude and her husband have lived in Devon for seven years

after moving from Tunbridge Wells in Kent.

My daughter kept saying, "Why don't you come down here?

Every time we come here on holiday, it's so lovely, it's a beautiful part of the world really

so we came down here to be near her and the grandchildren.

Trude's husband commutes to work to run a business there

but he also bought the garage and shop in Knowle as a going concern.

Trude helps manage it with her son-in-law.

It's nice, a nice feel to it and we've got local staff.

It is nice as well.

The shop ticks over and usually days pass without incident.

But Trude's glad to have the reassuring presence

of the cameras that are installed.

Having CCTV does give you a certain amount of feeling safe.

Because you are quite vulnerable when you're there on your own.

And Trude is on her own the night the armed robbers burst in.

It's closing time at eight o'clock.

Trude's put the day's takings in a safe

and left a £50 float in the till. Now she's finishing up.

We have to record the scratchcards we have sold

so I was jotting down the numbers.

But just then the doorbell rings and two figures approach crouching down.

They looked like kids mucking about.

Of course, then they came close and I realised.

It's like a scene from a horror movie but it's real.

The two men dressed in balaclavas and hoodies

rush forward brandishing their weapons.

I remember thinking, "This is it. But let it go down fighting."

Trude instinctively puts her hands up to defend herself.

And then I suddenly thought, try to get to the phone and do 999.

The man shoves Trude backwards away from the phone

and she smashes against a cigarette cabinet.

I did actually have the phone in my hand and was going to dial

when he pushed me and I did hurt myself

but it didn't register really.

The man hacks violently with the meat cleaver at the phone and cable.

It looks like he's hacking me

but he started with his meat clever to hit the telephone.

And I do remember thinking, I wonder if it's going to be my head next?

And the other chap in black kept saying, "Open the till."

I kept saying, "You're making me nervous, I can't do it."

They need Trude standing to open the till but they're so rough she falls.

He pushed me again there.

And when I was on the floor I pressed the panic button.

The man who's dressed in black sees Trude press the panic button

and it makes him start to panic.

He wants to leave but the other man shouts at Trude to open the safe.

He said to me, "Go and get to the safe."

And I said, "You're in the way", to the chap in black.

"You are in the way. I have to get passed you."

And he said, "Run, she's pushed the alarm."

And I said, "Yes, you'd better." I noticed he'd put the knife there.

I picked up the knife. I thought, right, I'm going to defend myself.

Trude chases after them with their own knife.

I don't know what I would have done if he'd have turned round.

I mean...we'd have a knife fight or whatever, I don't know.

But all the men want to do is escape.

Trude goes to the office to call the police.

The robbers, flustered by her resistance

and put off by the panic button,

have only managed to steal the £50 float.

I was so lucky.

If he hadn't seen me press the alarm,

I would have had to go in to show them the safe.

The police are quickly on the scene.

DI Dave Atkinson heads the investigating team.

Officers were on scene within five or ten minutes.

It was obvious to them this had been a very serious crime

and further units were dispatched to the scene in order to

look for evidence and look for the offenders.

It was a priority we got them locked up as soon as possible.

But how do you identify robbers whose faces are hidden

behind balaclavas and hoodies?

Well, with the help of a trained dog with a highly sensitive nose, that's how.

Dave's team have a breakthrough within just 15 minutes.

On the night in question, following the robbery, they've come out,

they've initially gone right and then gone out of camera shot.

However, ten minutes later when the dog unit arrived

and he parked up here, the dog gets straight out

and the dog tracks off on a very strong scent down that way round the corner.

The dog keeps tracking for several hundred metres down the road

and up a country lane.

There's no street lights or anything so in November at 8.00pm,

this would have been pitch black. That's when the dog becomes invaluable then

because he's just relying on scent.

The dog's trusty nose takes them to a hedge by an allotment.

The dog led the dog handler to this point here and we found a pile of clothing

which we believed to have belonged to the offenders

because the dog has tracked from the scene to here.

Then the dog finds another clue to the robbers' movements.

Following the discovery of the clothing, the dog tracked

a further 100 metres up to this area here where the track just stopped.

This is the point where we believe they got into a vehicle and left the scene.

And the next day, search teams find one more item.

Just off the main road we found the meat cleaver hidden in a bush here.

The evidence is bagged up and sent to a forensic lab

to see if there are any traces of DNA.

They hope it will reveal the identities.

Later, we'll see detectives gather CCTV from different locations

to piece together what happened on the night of the robbery.

We had a name put forward as a potential suspect.

They're closing in on the robbers.

As well as dealing with serious crimes

like the raid on Trude's shop,

police time and technology also has to deal with

the petty antics of fraudsters like this guy in a lift.

This CCTV camera in the lift of an underground station

is about to capture one of the worst attempts at a fake injury claim

you're ever likely to see.

This man enters.

After punching in his floor then does a double take

when he notices the security camera.

Anyway, moments later he appears to have dropped something.

What's that?

Oh, it's a banana skin.

Careful! You might slip!

For the rest of the trip he stays resolutely looking ahead

but can't resist a shifty glance at the camera

to work out if it's working.

Yes, we can see you!

OK, here's your floor, mind yourself on the way out.

Oh, oops.

What bad luck, to land exactly on that banana skin.

Oh, well, at least he got up pretty quickly.

But incredibly, this man claimed for injuries to his left leg and hip

and tried to get a five figure sum in compensation,

saying a station attendant should have cleaned up the peel

before he entered the lift.

Unfortunately, not realising this footage had been recorded,

he slipped up in more ways than one.

After examining it, the police decide to charge him with fraud.

Now, this bloke needs to get something off his chest

because if you look closely you can see a cable hanging out

the bottom of his T-shirt.

He's hiding a laptop computer and it's not his.

He's been on a crime spree stealing equipment from offices.

We often get burglars say, "I don't do houses, I just do offices."

Like that somehow morally justifies what they're doing.

We don't see it like that. Burglary is never a victimless crime.

Burglars who raid offices might think it's just faceless equipment

they're stealing but Ros knows otherwise.

He's affected my life, the life of my family

and the charity that my husband and I run.

He's hurt a lot of people.

We'll see how in Leicester,

Ros badly needs to get her stolen laptop back.

And how in the City of London,

police are clamping down on office burglars.

Any time you're breaking into somewhere to steal,

that is morally reprehensible and you need to be brought to justice.

Ros Barnes runs a fashion design business in Leicester.

One day recently she was working at her sewing machine

unaware that a man had crept upstairs and into the studio office.

I heard the door close and I thought, oh, that's rude.

Somebody's not come in.

They've gone out and they haven't even said hello,

they've just gone out.

I just saw a man disappearing down the corridor.

I shouted to my friend, "Check and see if the handbag's still here.

"She came back and said, "Oh, yes, the handbag's here."

Then I looked in the office and the laptop had gone.

Ros went looking for the man.

See if I can just get that laptop back even if I have to say to him,

"Look, follow me to the cashpoint, I will give you £50.

"You give me the laptop back, let's call it a day." Take it no further.

But he'd vanished.

After reporting the theft to police,

she checked her neighbour's CCTV recording.

They have cameras that overlook the entrance.

It shows the thief trying one door but it's locked,

so he heads upstairs to Ross's studio.

The enormity of what I lost just hit me as I was watching him

walking out the door with it.

Precious photos of Ros's son, Alex, are on the laptop.

Seven years ago he fell ill with a life-threatening brain tumour

and needed a new type of therapy in America.

We raised £57,000 in three days

through the generosity of the people of the East Midlands.

When we were in the States he had his tumour taken out

and then he started proton therapy and we were there for nearly four months.

So, he's come back and he's never looked back.

He's been absolutely perfect

and he's cancer free after five years now.

Ros and her husband set up a charity to help other families

with children that need similar treatment.

Information about the charity is also on the laptop.

I'm extremely worried that I can not keep in touch with these families,

I can not follow up with them what I've started.

I can't finish what I've started.

And that's the thing that's really hurting me.

It's unlikely that thieves even consider the pain they might cause

their victims but the police want to make sure they do.

The City of London.

Within its one square mile of high rise offices,

laptop thefts are a common problem.

It's an important commercial area.

So important, since 1839 it's had its own crime fighting force,

the City of London Police.

We're the smallest territorial police force in the country.

We're primarily an area that's dominated by big business

and we're the European centre of finance.

It also has one of the highest densities of CCTV cameras in the world.

CCTV is massively critical to us.

We try not to become dependant on it but it's such a useful tool.

And those cameras proved crucial recently

when Steve and his colleagues get reports of a spate of burglaries.

This is the first footage of the thief at work.

It shows how easy it is for him to get into a building.

He simply loiters outside and waits for someone to enter or leave.

The doors have slid open and you'll see him rush

in order to wedge his foot into the closing glass doors.

The mobile phone's always in the hand

as if that's going to make him naturalise,

make him look like he belongs.

And the male reverses backwards through the door.

The man goes up in a lift.

A few minutes later he's leaving with a stolen laptop and a bin bag.

That's so if he's challenged he can pretend he's a cleaner.

This was the first offence in a series of offences.

We could not identify him from this footage alone.

But four days later, he's back.

Only this time he actually forces a door open.

His body's bracing as if he's pulling on the magnetically locked door.

He manages to get in but he's been seen.

A security guard has located him in the second floor,

challenged him verbally, at which point this suspect has run away.

The thief gets away

but security staff have control of the cameras and they track him.

This is where the CCTV work really comes into its own.

This footage shows the front of that office space.

You can see how it's zooming because the guard's looking for the suspect.

And you can see a very, very clear facial shot,

clearly in the same clothing as the previous offence.

Also, when I let it run, you can see there's a white cable

hanging out the bottom of his T-shirt

and a suspicious rectangular item wedged up his T-shirt

which is in fact the MacBook that was stolen from the premises.

Security call the police

but unfortunately the man escapes before they can get there.

However, they've now got that close-up of his face.

The face image is so clear it allowed us

to make a good identification of the male.

His name is Anthony Mannigan, well-known to the police

and only just out of prison.

He had to go to probation, which is a condition of his release

from prison, that he has to attend certain appointments.

We arrested him when he attended his probation appointment.

With all the video evidence against him,

he is found guilty of committing four burglaries

and is given a four-and-a-half year prison sentence.

Steve and his colleagues are pleased with the result.

It takes him out of circulation.

Some of the laptops he stole belong to personal victims

who worked at the companies. To lose that is like the modern day handbag.

You lose everything you own.

So we're obviously very, very happy

that he was put inside for that length of time.

Back up in Leicester, Ros, who's lost precious photos

when her laptop was stolen,

still has hope that it might be returned to her.

I'm hoping that when this person looks at the photographs

they realise that actually this is the laptop they've heard about and seen on TV.

That, er, it belongs to the family of a little boy who has really,

really struggled and overcome cancer twice

and he's got all his life documented on that PC.

So, I'm hoping that the person that buys that laptop or gets given it,

thinks, you know what, I don't really need it that much,

let's get it back to the family.

If anybody has information that might lead to the return

of Ros's laptop, please contact Leicestershire Police.

Computers can contain so much information about our lives

and quite often it's valuable personal stuff that's irreplaceable.

So what can we do to try and keep it safe?

Back up your information if you possibly can regularly

so you've got all your photographs and your personal information

that you really treasure so it will still be there.

So many of us have hooked up to different sites where we can

purchase things with the click of a button.

It's recognised by our computer.

If you don't have a security password that thief can order things

online with all your credit card details.

You should take a note of the serial number,

visit your local police website

and it will show you how to register your laptop online.

Mark your laptop with a security pen, password protect it

and above all, lock it away.

Coming up:

Following the armed robbery at Trude's garage shop in Devon,

police get a lead after a public appeal for help.

The community rallied around and a name was given to us.

And they uncover more vital CCTV evidence.

Worthing.

It's 3.00am when these two men walk up the drive of a health spa,

briefly glancing up at the camera and shielding themselves

from the glare of the security light.

They're clearly up to no good.

At this hour they must be after something valuable, don't you think?

Well, let's just say it's a bit of a surprise

when one of the men comes back with a six foot inflatable banana.

Yes, a six foot inflatable banana!

Getting into the car, he then waits for his accomplice

who's also stealing a six foot inflatable banana.

But before they can, erm, split,

they seem to get delayed by the difficulty of trying to contain

two large inflatable bananas in the back of a small, three-door car.

But finally, they're off.

Karen here had been using these inflatables as part of a promotion

to reward people who cycle to her health spa with a free banana.

A bit deflated by the loss of her inflatables,

Karen put out a banana a-peel for information releasing this footage.

Tracking down the vehicle's number plate,

Sussex Police found the bananas at one of the men's houses.

He and the bananas were put in custard, sorry,

custody for a while before he got his just desserts!

A caution for theft.

While Karen was pumped up with pleasure at the thought

of getting her inflatables back.

Back to Knowle in North Devon

and the violent robbery at the local garage shop.

Detective Inspector Dave Atkinson,

who's overseeing the police investigation,

reviews the footage of how shop manager, Trude, defended herself.

Her reaction was to put her hands up to it and it was a miracle.

When we saw this footage for the first time,

we were astounded that she didn't have injuries because he was

waving the machete around, completely reckless to her safety at all.

Trude stood up to the armed men throughout the robbery

and even tried to call the police in front of them.

What we have here is the telephone that Trude was trying to

telephone the police on.

You can quite clearly see the damage that's been caused by the meat cleaver.

It was a frightening ordeal

but Trude was determined not to let it affect her too much.

She even decided to return to work the very next day.

Because I did not want them to spoil the rest of my life,

and I like life.

The detectives are closing in on the culprits.

They've already found their clothes and the meat cleaver

which had been sent to a forensic lab.

While they wait for the results, Dave, using the CCTV footage,

decides to appeal directly to the public for information.

I went to the local media and I asked for a name

because I said, my team would do the rest if we got a name.

The community rallied around and a name was given to us.

That name is Jamie Latta, a 27-year-old from Plymouth.

When the DNA results came back from the lab, his name pops up again.

They knew that Latta had worn one of the balaclavas.

The results also reveal two other people, a 24-year-old man

who lives locally called Lee Prowse, and his girlfriend.

The key element of the inquiry then was to prove

they associated with each other. And if so, where were they

immediately before the robbery and immediately after the robbery.

The three suspects are questioned

but they claim they barely know each other.

The investigators start to piece together where the suspects were

on the days around the robbery.

They do this by tracking their mobile phone signals.

It gives them more locations to trawl for CCTV evidence.

The police also go back to see Trude at the shop.

Maybe she'd noticed something unusual in the days before the robbery?

There was an incident the day before where I noticed

these two young men, we were quite busy, and they came in.

One of them said, "You do coffee. I'll have a coffee."

And then as he was paying for it, he said, "We just needed the water,

"we've got coffee in the car." There was a girl with them.

The new footage proves useful for Dave's team.

It was bingo, really, because we had Prowse, Latta

and the girlfriend all in the garage together.

The reason being, clearly, they want to see how Trude accesses the till,

whether there's an alarm system and how she goes about her business.

Then more important evidence is found.

CCTV pictures from a hotel taken on the evening of the robbery.

This element of it was quite important to actually show

they knew each other and they knew each other very, very well.

In fact, they stayed in the same room.

The guy with the shaved head is Latta.

He's a career criminal and quite a nasty piece of work.

He's got a string of violence convictions.

This chap here is Prowse.

Again, he's a career criminal but more petty crime

with a string of convictions for theft-related matters.

The girlfriend, her involvement in this was key

because she was the only one that had a car and therefore

she was driving them around in order to commit this robbery.

Her car is spotted at a petrol station in Braunton,

a few miles from Trude's shop

and just 20 minutes before the crime takes place.

And putting in the petrol is Prowse.

But the most compelling evidence actually comes from the police themselves.

Weeks before the crime, their CCTV camera at Barnstable police station

captures Latta walking in, and guess what?

He's wearing a familiar looking hoodie.

The most important exhibit that we recovered was the grey hoodie

which, with the three distinctive buttons which Latta was wearing,

which we were then able, through CCTV, to show him

coming into the police station wearing the same hoodie.

It puts Latta in the same clothes as the man with the meat cleaver.

The evidence is stacked against him.

The CCTV from the police station was the final piece in the jigsaw, if you like.

The gang are arrested.

In court, Latta pleads guilty and is sentenced to six years in prison.

Prowse tries to fight his case but he is also found guilty

and jailed for seven years.

His girlfriend is given a four year sentence.

It's a pleasing result for Dave's team

who put together such a convincing case.

These three people have gone into this garage the day before,

they know that Trude is in there by herself.

She's a 65-year-old grandmother.

The following day when they go in there waving their meat cleavers around with balaclavas,

they knew who was going to be in there.

Particularly callous, particularly heartless.

They did not know what my reaction would be.

They could have made me a nervous wreck.

That is, I think, is worse than taking away money.

I think we'll all sleep a lot better the fact they're going to be behind bars for some time.

Oh, I was very relieved.

I still don't know how the police did it, I really don't.

Since the night Trude stood up to the robbers,

friends and locals have shown a lot of support for her

and she's also been awarded £500 by the judge for her bravery.

I had so many flowers and cards, and hugs and chocolates.

One of my little customers goes to the same school as my grandchildren

in Braunton.

A couple of days afterwards he came up to me and said,

"Thank you for chasing away the robbers."

That's it for today.

Join us next time when the police and the public

catch more criminals red handed.