Episode 17 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 antisocial behaviour,

police and other agencies are using new technology and tactics,

where the bad guys are actually 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 as well that she might be stealing from.

We will name and shame you.

So, anyone who is up to no good had better think twice.

They might just get Caught Red Handed.

Today, we're hot on the trail of a reckless arsonist.

He gets a taste of his own medicine

when he sets his own pants on fire!

Also today, persistent burglars can bring a small business to its knees.

It was definitely the worst year of my life. It affected just everything.

These days, the police have eyes in the back of their head.

It was a bonus that they actually came right up

towards the camera, giving us a better shot.

And he stole from them, then asked them for a job.

You couldn't script it if you wanted to.

The bizarre case of the unemployed burglar

and the group of workmates who hatch a cunning plan to catch him.

Monmouth in Wales at 10.30pm.

This is the back room of a pound store.

We're able to see it because this hidden camera

has been installed for two days by Gwent Police.

It's only a tiny camera,

but it could be a big help in saving a business

that's been badly hit by two burglaries.

And yes, it catches a couple of intruders.

Thieves in the night, looking for anything they can take.

They are particularly attracted to this corner cupboard,

which contains the well-placed camera.

They walked straight into a trap.

That's what I call the money shot.

Burglary is one of the most commonly committed offences.

In his years on the force, Wayne Alexander from Gwent Police

has dealt with its aftermath countless times.

The effects of burglary on people is horrific. When I go round

and see these victims, I've seen them in tears,

the amount of intrusion that this person has caused them

reduces them to tears right in front of me. This is some hours after

a burglary has happened as well. They're really distraught.

Sometimes I don't think the criminal stops

and thinks the actual damage they're doing to people's lives.

But it's not just home owners that suffer in this way.

Small business owners also get hit hard.

We'll be seeing shortly how Wayne's trap helps the owners of the Monmouth pound shop.

But first, this is Alison Illsley.

She runs a toy shop in Dedham, Essex.

But she used to run a toy shop in Hadleigh, Suffolk, too.

Note the words "used to".

This is now a clothes shop run by someone else.

It was definitely the worst year of my life.

It affected just everything.

It had all started so promisingly.

Alison's toy shop in Dedham was going well.

So she decided to expand the business by opening up

another one in nearby Hadleigh.

That's when her problems started.

A couple of months after we opened,

that was the first time our windows were smashed.

Alison's new shop gets targeted three times in quick succession.

The new shop's profits are hit,

not just by the loss of stock, but by the loss of trading days

while she gets the damage to the shop fixed.

I never put in my business plan

that we were going to be vandalised, burgled.

Three times being broken into...

We're thousands of pounds down now from the smashed glass

and not even that much taken.

Also, her insurance premiums rise with every break-in,

which adds to the spiralling costs.

It's supposed to be something positive

that you're doing for your family.

It's exciting because it's entrepreneurial.

It's a new venture. It's supposed to be wonderful.

Instead, it just kind of had a domino effect on everything, and...

I had a really rough time.

I was quite unhappy.

It's such hard work, having a business.

Yeah, why would you put yourself through that?

Sadly, Alison had to close her toy shop here in Hadleigh

just one year after opening.

The police know first-hand how shopkeepers like Alison

can be put out of business by constant break-ins, which is why,

back in Wales, investigator Wayne Alexander has installed

this camera in the back room of a pound shop in Monmouth.

The shop's future is being put at risk by a run of burglaries.

To be honest with you, the ideal scenario would be

to put a bobby in there overnight, but not cost-effective.

Were they going to come that night? We didn't know.

Wayne is experienced in setting up capture houses

in crime-ridden areas.

These are properties specially rigged with cameras

and other alerts designed to catch thieves in the act.

And he can use his knowledge here, too,

to help save a beleaguered business.

We decided to go covert on this,

so the ideal solution would be a mini camera which can roll and roll.

The occupant can switch it on before leaving work for the night,

switch it back off on arrival to work. So it was ideal, really.

First, find a place to hide the camera.

On this occasion, there's a small micro camera in the filing cabinet,

in a lever arch file,

in among some stationery in the office area.

Now, sit back and wait for somebody to rob the store.

And just two days later, at 4pm,

the staff hang up their coats and go home as usual.

But then, fast forward 6.5 hours and two men break in,

searching for anything valuable.

They rummage around right in front of the camera.

Can't even see the mini camera,

and the lights are on in the premises as well,

so they've turned the lights on,

having a good view and they still can't see it.

There are also motion detectors in the room that alert police

the store is being robbed.

In fact, the thieves get away

just before these two undercover officers arrive.

But not to worry - the police can just rewind the tape.

It was a bonus for us,

they actually came right up towards the camera, giving us a better shot.

As you can see, it is quite good close-ups there of their faces.

The men's faces are then circulated around forces to see

if anyone recognises them,

and an officer from South Wales Police comes up trumps.

He knows these shop robbers

and he's able to shop them to Wayne and the Gwent force.

It is always nice, really, when you've got the footage

that we have, the clarity that we have,

all better in an interview situation,

where these people deny it, "No, it's not me," etc, etc.

You then pull up the footage, put it on the table

and see the actual colour sap out of their faces.

It's very satisfying.

The two men appear in court.

This man received a community order with 100 hours' unpaid work...

While, due to previous offences,

the other man was sent down for a total of 21 months.

Wayne hopes that word gets around the criminal fraternity

to reduce crime overall.

My message to the criminal would be,

I challenge you to find one of our cameras.

Good luck to you, because even myself and my colleagues

sometimes challenge each other, "'Can you see it?"

"No, I can't". Just be careful.

Meanwhile, down in Essex, Alison is happily back to running

just the one store now.

She also has a message for would-be shop thieves.

First of all, if you continue,

there won't be any small businesses to target,

but you're affecting real people

and what you're doing does matter.

I think there are probably better ways of earning a living.

From small businesses to the never-ending business

of keeping Britain tidy.

Fly-tipping blights many areas,

but one fed-up council in Lancashire

has found a covert solution to help clear up a rubbish problem.

This street corner may look rather non-descript,

but it's become well known in Preston, Lancashire,

as a hot spot for fly tipping,

which is why the council has set up a hidden camera.

It's just gone 10pm.

These two men seem to have been at some kind of celebration.

Now, the rubbish thing about any party

is clearing up the rubbish afterwards.

It can be a real pain.

So these two men obviously think,

"Why not scoop it up and just dump it here

"and let somebody else deal with it?"

All six bags and a box of the stuff.

Having taken a load off their mind,

the pair barely pause between puffing their cigarettes

to get back in the car and drive off.

But when Preston Council found the leftover party food

and plates, they were also fuming.

They'd installed this camera to catch this sort of offence

at the moment it's being committed.

They track down this dumping duo via their car number plate

and they're fined £200 each.

Party over.

Goodness, gracious,

a great ball of fire...

..that makes its mark on a would-be firestarter.

It must have got his eyebrows

and then he pedalled off with his backside on fire.

And a job-seeker who's caught doing a job at the place where he's applied to work.

"It wasn't me, guv, honest."

They're the words used both by naughty boys and girls

and major criminals.

But these days, technology exists which means the police,

family and in this case, workmates, won't be so easily fooled.

This CCTV camera watches over a corridor

in a Shropshire manufacturing company.

It looks pretty much like any corridor in any factory.

But this one has been the scene of an unusual set of circumstances.

You couldn't script it if you wanted to.

It's one in a million.

The first couple of men to walk in work here.

That third man with the strips on his jacket doesn't.

He's a job-seeker who has just arrived out of the blue

asking for employment and he's being shown around.

The weird thing is, five weeks ago,

there was an intruder in this corridor who looks just like him.

THAT man stole a bag with valuable items in it.

So now, weeks later, the two suspicious factory staff

have designed a special job interview for the man.

If they can prove it was him who stole from them,

he could find himself in a new position,

but not quite the one he's hoping for.

This family-run company in Oswestry, Shropshire,

employs about 150 staff.

They mainly make modular rooms that are used in the building

of hotels or student accommodation blocks.

Nick Davies is the man in charge.

There is a good head of staff.

They all look out for each other and would be quite distraught

if any of them was put in a position in any way, shape or form.

That camaraderie is needed one night shift

when one of the workers becomes very upset.

His rucksack has gone missing and it contains precious items.

It wasn't just his money or his food for the evening,

but it was his credit cards, his phone, he even had his passport,

and a lot of personal letters and stuff from home.

Their distraught workmate has come here from the Czech Republic

six months ago and he's well liked.

His colleagues search everywhere for his missing rucksack,

but can't find it.

His manager Paul hears about it when he arrives in the morning.

My first thought was to get the CCTV footage of that evening.

He asks another manager, Graham, to take a look.

Graham records the output from the cameras on his laptop.

This is what we came up with.

The man with a dog walks into the corridor.

To an untrained eye, he looks like he could be a guard on a routine patrol,

but this man is doing the opposite of securing the place.

We couldn't believe how brazen he was,

just walking straight into the factory.

He emerges from a room where some of the staff keep their bags

and he's stolen a rucksack.

If he'd turned left, he would have gone into the factory

where there are at least 30 people in there

and would have had his guts for garters.

-The man leaves.

-Cigarette in his mouth and the dog wagging his tail.

The young worker who lost his belongings is very upset.

The incident knocked Juri about quite a bit and left him feeling very vulnerable.

His workmates rallied to help him out

and they sent this footage to the police.

They also try a bit of detective work themselves.

Especially with him walking his dog,

we knew he hadn't travelled from miles to do this.

We tried to push it to the fullest extent to try and find out who he was.

Anybody that walked a dog was a suspect.

We couldn't establish who it was and unfortunately,

neither could the police.

Sadly, the young worker is so upset by what has happened,

he eventually decides to go back to the Czech Republic.

It was heartbreaking for Juri to go through that experience

and we lost a good, reliable employee.

And good, reliable employees aren't easy to replace.

Just five weeks later, Graham goes to get something from his car when...

I saw this young lad walking across the car park.

He came up to me and asked me

was there was any employment or any jobs going.

I said, well, I didn't know, but I would ask the question, and would he like to come with me.

He takes the applicant to see Paul.

There was something familiar about the gentleman who had walked in.

It was as he stood up and turned round to walk out of my office,

I recognised the reflective strips on his jacket.

I sat there in amazement.

I looked at Paul then and I gave him a little bit of a nod

and he smiled and looked at me, as much to say,

"this could be the person we're looking for."

Paul has to think quickly about what to do next.

It would have been easy to apprehend him and question him and call the police immediately,

but we wanted to be 100% sure that it was.

Paul said, "Right, we'll go and fill the application form in".

So we went down and sat in the canteen.

The canteen is directly opposite the room where the rucksack was stolen.

The job application form now has another role to play

for the managers turned detectives.

If he hadn't twigged that we were onto him,

he would then freely give his name, address, all his contact details.

We didn't pressurise him, if he wanted a job,

the application form needed filling in, which he did freely.

Leaving the man to fill in his form, Paul and Graham pop outside

to phone their boss, Nick, to bring him in on the sting.

The man has filled in the application form,

but they need to stall him for longer.

They bring him out of the canteen.

The plan was to get him out, into the corridor,

in front of the camera so we could have a good view of him on camera

so we could look at the two images and make sure we had the right person.

They choreograph it so the man stands in certain positions.

Holding him up there so we can establish the height,

the back of his jacket, the distinctive jacket.

Open the door for him to go into the factory,

they came back in, walked him down to about here,

stopped to explain what was happening with the clock.

So we have a clear view of his face.

And it's a good match.

His face is the same size in shot from the same angle.

He didn't suspect anything.

It looked as though he was quite happy to be able to go to an interview.

They send him across to Nick's office for a final identity parade,

which is disguised as the sit-down part of the interview.

The minute he walked in, it was ironic, really,

because I had his face up on the screen,

so it was apparent straightaway that it was definitely, definitely him.

I turned the screen off and sat him down and we started to take him through the interview.

One of the managers phones the police.

Now Nick needs to keep the man talking until they arrive.

It was quite difficult because there was a lot of pent up emotion

where really, you're thinking to yourself, this guy has invaded our space.

So we tried to make it as much like a real interview as we possibly could.

But eventually, you start running out of places to go with it.

Perhaps sensing something is afoot, the applicant is nervous.

He takes to his feet and leaves before the police arrive.

Luckily, we'd held him long enough, that the police were actually coming up the road.

The officers pull over and arrest him.

He was looking for a new position.

Well, he's got one - down at the police station.

He admits to stealing the rucksack.

He is sentenced to complete a 12-month community order

with 40 days unpaid work.

He also has to pay costs and compensation.

At the factory, they still can't believe the man came back for a job

at the place he came to rob.

You couldn't script it if you wanted to.

It's one in a million.

There was no chance of him getting the job, no chance at all.

But everybody is pleased with the result.

It does give you a sense of justice, when they get what they deserve.

A good result in the end, that he was prosecuted

and the work we did had some sort of result

for Juri to take home and take to heart.

We like to take people at face value but sometimes,

like this job-seeker, they're not all they seem.

If we're at home or at work, it's always worth checking out

if strangers ARE who they say they are.

If you keep your personal belongings at work,

don't feel complacent with those,

don't leave them on your desk.

Lock them in a drawer if you have one.

A lot of people's place of work is a transient place.

You may have delivery drivers, you may have lunch people coming in.

Who are they? Check and make sure you know who is in your workplace

but above all, keep your valuables safe.

The honest people will not mind at all

if you take a minute to challenge them

and ask them to prove their identity -

give you a card or whatever piece of identification they can

to prove that they are a bona fide person.

We've seen another example of someone claiming to look for work

but is actually looking to steal some cash.

Trouble is though, this chappy is not as bright as he thinks he is.

A regular customer at this garage,

this man has just handed in a job application form.

There he is, top right.

He obviously thinks he'll get the job because when the shop

assistant's back is turned,

he decides to take an advance on his wages...

straight from the till. Oops!

She's turned back round - maybe this time?

Oops! Maybe not. Maybe third time lucky?

Yes! He's got his bonus.

And, after grabbing a bundle of notes,

he then hangs around for a quick chat with the assistant,

possibly to discuss further perks of the job! Then he saunters out.

The theft was quickly discovered

and the 33-year-old man was tracked down pretty quickly as well.

You see, the idiot had helpfully filled in the job application

with his real name, address and other personal details.

An unsuitable candidate, perhaps.

Chances of being employee of the month? Low.

Chances of being convicted for theft? Very high indeed.

We have seen today the capture of various scoundrels whose

crimes have caused distress to businesses and individuals.

Distress, but not so far danger.

Well, that's about to change, in an explosive way -

though thank goodness, no-one actually gets hurt.

The town of Congleton, Cheshire.

It's 4.50am and this man on a small bicycle is up at the crack of dawn.

He's caught on CCTV in the early morning light,

but he has dark intentions.

He is pouring petrol through the letter box of a pub

and he's about to set light to it.

He is committing a very serious crime.

Arson is a threat to property and to life.

The concerning thing was he didn't know whether we lived here or

a member of staff lived here... The intent is quite nasty.

But this man's dangerous act is about to seriously backfire.

Steve and Michelle run the club/pub in the heart of Congleton.

The club is for the benefit of everybody, really.

We've got a fair cross-section of people who come in.

We play the football, we do the live bands, we've got the disco,

-so it's really something for everyone.

-Well, nearly everyone.

On Sunday night, one of the clientele,

33-year-old Michael Morgan, gets involved in a heated argument

with another customer just outside the bar.

When I first became aware of Mr Morgan,

he was actually outside on the decking area.

He was a bit sort of agitated. Talked him down,

got him to the door. For the life of me I couldn't really see as to why he

wanted to sort of kick off, because there was nothing to kick off.

I just said, "Best to go, isn't it?"

And he did and that was the end of that, as I thought.

But for Michael Morgan, that certainly wasn't the end of that.

Steve and Michelle live just up the road from the pub and extremely

early next morning they're woken by the milkman calling out.

He was shouting, "There's a fire, there's a fire!"

He'd saw this flash of flame as he drove past.

His immediate reaction was to raise the alarm

-so if there was anybody in there, to get them out.

-I felt physically sick.

I didn't know the extent of the damage.

The milkman has also called the fire service.

They are there by the time Steve arrives at the pub.

Thankfully, they found the flames haven't taken hold.

The main concern was what was going to happen,

what we were going to see when we opened the door.

I open the door and it was just filled with smoke, really.

You could see that the carpet had been melted.

The light fittings had melted...

But no real damage, if you know what I mean. Just filled with smoke.

Then comes the unpleasant realisation...

Quite obvious that this was deliberate,

somebody had attempted to set the place on fire.

All sorts of things rush to mind - who have we upset?

What is the reason? Why?

But then Steve remembered showing Michael Morgan the door

the night before.

He puts two and two together and checks to see if the pub

security cameras have captured anything - and they have.

But it's not at all the sort of thing

the couple were expecting to see.

When we saw the CCTV, we couldn't believe our eyes.

What an absolute idiot.

And here's why. As Morgan cycles into view...

He's on a little child's bike,

which looks a little bit ridiculous as well...

Using a plastic bottle to pour the petrol in through the pub's

letter box...

Morgan then rather unwisely puts the petrol-soaked bottle

in his back pocket and gets ready to ignite.

But he's about to get a bit more than he bargained for.

And then he proceeded to bend down and light it.

There was just this almighty big burst of flames...

Must have got his eyebrows,

and then he pedalled off with his backside on fire. It was hilarious!

Not so much red-handed as red-cheeked, maybe.

But of course, this is no laughing matter.

This would have been a dangerous fire

if the arsonist hadn't made a serious miscalculation.

What he didn't realise was that we'd actually taken away

the Macclesfield step because people were tripping over it.

A Macclesfield step is a type of sill that prevents

rainwater from seeping under a door.

So as he tipped the petrol into the letter box, it ran down the

back of the door, then ran out under the door to where he was standing.

Here we have the letter box where he poured the petrol through.

As he bent down to light it, there was a pool of petrol here

and on the pavement and he was totally engulfed in flames.

The next parting shot is that you see him

firing up Chapel Street with a rocket-powered backside!

The police, the fire brigade, myself and Steve were just

stood there laughing at the footage because it was so incredibly stupid!

Moments later,

the police radio to say they've apprehended Morgan.

I just said well, basically, "How did you get him so quickly?"

I think their response was quite simple,

that it's quite easy to recognise an adult on a child's bike

pedalling up West Street with his backside on fire!

But joking aside, Morgan's actions could have had serious consequences.

It's a Grade II listed building, it dates back to the 1700s.

If you set fire to a small part of it, there is

the possibility that it can go through the whole of the building

and then that leads to the adjoining properties, it would

set fire to them, and endangering the people in there, as well.

We're very lucky that we have a secondary door.

If it wasn't for that door, the damage would have been much worse.

The concerning thing really was the fact that he didn't know

whether we lived here or a member of staff lived here

and so the intent is quite nasty in many ways.

Chester Crown Court agreed and after admitting one count of arson,

Michael Morgan is sentenced to 2½ years in prison.

The Fire and Rescue Service have also released the footage to

highlight the dangers that are caused by an arson attack,

as well as the cost of their time and resources.

I know from what we've seen, the footage is quite funny,

but things could have been a lot worse.

Yes, there's a serious side to this.

Fortunately, with relatively minor damage, Steve and Michelle were

able to open soon after the incident and didn't lose much custom.

But there's one customer their doors will remain closed to.

In the light of the offence and the sentence that was passed on him,

I think we will impose and maintain a lifetime ban on him,

because I don't think that he would be welcome here, really.

He's upset too many people.

That's it for today - join us next time when the police

and the public catch more criminals red-handed!