Episode 3 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

when the bad guys are actually getting caught in the act.

I can see the man actually commit a 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, a tale of shops and robbers.

A crowd of thieves arrive suddenly to bamboozle a shopkeeper.

-They called me here, called me there.

-And they have a hidden purpose.

It wasn't a shoplifting. The real target of the gang was to get into the flat to take

the money and take the jewellery.

Also today:

What do you do when people dump rubbish on your doorstep?

We had the camera in this particular location here.

An angling club goes fishing for fly-tippers

and hooks a couple of crooks.

And jewellery robbers make a quick getaway but not quick enough,

because they can't outrun the cameras.

The beautiful South Wales countryside.

In one of the valleys sits a small village called Cilfynydd.

This convenience store usually serves the locals and a few tourists.

It doesn't normally have more than three or four customers at once.

But all of a sudden, this one day in March, business is booming.

Customers just keep flooding in.

A few days later, a different shop

but a similar-looking crowd of customers arrive all at once.

Good for takings, you'd think. Well, yes. But not for the shopkeeper.

It's this gang that's doing the taking, because they're thieves.

The gang were very confident in what they did.

Straightaway, they would engage the shopkeeper behind the counter.

While the shop owner is distracted, one of them

sneaks into the flat above the shop.

These aren't shoplifters - they're actually burglars.

But luckily, the shop security camera captures the moment

she goes up to the flat. And when she comes out again a little later.

We'll see shortly what happens next.

But first, back to Cilfynydd, where Anoma

and her family have lived above their shop for 26 years.

People are so nice in our neighbourhood.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in one of those television dramas.

They've got a shop and everyone comes and tells their stories

and that's what we are staying here for this long.

But one quiet morning,

the shop is the scene of events that really ARE a bit like a TV drama.

Just reading my newspaper and then suddenly, two ladies came

and they said "Hello", and I said "Hello",

and then they said they were just going to move to my neighbourhood.

But there's not much time for friendly chitchat, as things

get very busy.

I can see more people coming and then there's more people

all together inside the shop, men and women, about eight of them.

Everybody wants something now. "Excuse me!

"Can I have this, can I have that?" Or "I need help" or, you know, they don't really say that, they're

just like, doing sign language to call me here, call me there like that.

It's all a bit much. But at least it should be a profitable day.

They've all got a £20 note in their hand,

so I thought, well, they've got money, they're not going to rob me.

Don't worry, just carry on serving, and that's what I did.

Ten minutes later, they've all gone.

Anoma settles back into her usual routine

and then her family returns from school.

When my children come home and suddenly she said, "Mummy!

"Somebody's gone into my room."

I said, "Who's going to go to your room? Nobody is going to go into your room."

"No, somebody's been in my room," she keeps telling,

"and they just pulled everything" and I said, "Nobody is going to pull...

"It is the way you left your room," I said, "unless it's a ghost," I said.

It's no ghost, but she does get another visitation.

Two days later, the gang comes back again but this time, Anoma

spots something suspicious.

Out of the corner of my eye,

I saw one lady is coming out of my private door

and then I was like,

"Oh, my God, how can you go inside my private door without my permission?"

And then all the other ladies gathered around me and said, "No, no, she's pregnant.

"She is pregnant, she needs to go to the toilet." I said,

"Whether you need to go to the toilet or not, you should get my permission.

"This is my private door, that is.

"You can't just go in." And then only just clicked me,

and I just grabbed the phone and dialled 999.

And they all just disappeared.

Anoma rushes upstairs to check the room where her money is kept.

Thankfully, the door to that room is still locked.

If they'd got into my room, well, we haven't got anything left at all.

We'll probably end up in the street. We haven't got no money to pay our bills or nothing.

The police arrive quickly and scour the shop for fingerprints

and they also take away a copy of the CCTV footage.

The case lands on the desk of Detective Sergeant Daniel Michel

who's been dealing with similar reports across Pontypridd.

We had six burglaries in quick succession,

primarily village shops owned by families who

lived above the shop or in a flat adjacent to the shop.

The victims didn't automatically know that they'd been burgled.

It wasn't until they'd gone upstairs later on in the night,

then they discovered that some things had been moved around,

and then they noticed there was stuff missing.

Although her money was safe, the family

did lose some jewellery, including a diamond watch

she had given to her daughter on her 18th birthday.

The robbers also left Anoma with a fear that she had never felt before.

We are even scared to leave the shop and go anywhere now,

because those days we could just shut the shop, put the alarm and go,

but now we are really worried and concerned

whether these people are going to come any time again.

These victims are key in our communities,

they provide a service to the rest of the communities living there,

in that they are their local village shop.

So, for other people living around there that find out what's happened,

it causes a bit of fear and concern right throughout that community.

Later, Daniel puts together a dedicated team

to sift through hours of CCTV footage.

The cameras enabled us to see exactly what happened.

This footage here was crucial to us.

This gang is about to find out that there's no safety in numbers.

They can be large gangs, they can be single operators -

distraction thieves use many different guises

and lots of different techniques to try and fool us -

so, what should we be looking out for?

If somebody, when you're out in public, bumps into you,

stops to ask for directions

or tries to sell anything to you,

just be very conscious of your valuables and protect them.

Keep your wits about you. Make sure that if someone bumps into you in the street,

approaches you at a table, particularly if they've got a map,

newspaper, or something to cover the table,

that they're not stealing your phone, purse or wallet.

Keep valuable items secure in your pocket or zipped up in a handbag.

A classic trick is for somebody to place a map or magazine

in front of you, and whilst they're

talking to you and shielding your eyes,

their hands will be in your bag.

We're not asking people to be paranoid -

just be vigilant.

Next, we meet a gang of thieves who set out to steal some watches.

It turns out they certainly needed a bit more time...

to plan things better.

We're in Maidstone, Kent,

and obscured from view behind this street sign

are two men dressed in white decorator's suits.

But they're not here to paint the jewellery store -

they're here to rob it.

They smash through the windows and are helping themselves

to 13 brand-new Rolex watches.

But a sharp-eyed council CCTV camera operator

has them in her sights, and she's alerted the police.

Although this heist may look like a professional job,

it's about to become decidedly...amateur.

One of these bungling burglars is in such a rush,

he drops part of the loot.

You'd think this gang would now

screech away from the scene of the crime - like in the movies!

But no - they drive off slowly,

stopping at the lights and helpfully

indicating which way they're going next.

With the registration number recorded by the CCTV cameras,

the police are soon ready to pounce.

POLICE SIREN SOUNDS

The patrol car pulls up on the driver's side

and manages to detain two of the thieves.

But the passenger makes a run for it.

The chase is on.

He may have lost his loot of watches,

but this particular time bandit

looks set to clock up a personal best in cross-country running!

That policeman's doing pretty well, too,

though he's not exactly dressed for speed.

Further on, the robber has now lost his pursuer,

and tries to lose his distinctive uniform.

He thinks he's got time to stop and undress,

and the last thing he wants is to be caught with his trousers down.

But what he doesn't know is that the council CCTV operators

are STILL watching his every move,

and while he's performing his striptease,

the police are able to close in.

In just four minutes after the robbery,

all three gang members are arrested.

And they are jailed for a total of 16 years between them.

So, they may not have got away with stealing the watches,

but those crooks will know about doing time,

thanks to some quick-thinking

CCTV operators and some well-placed cameras.

You can run, but if you're on the wrong side of the law,

sometimes, ya just can't hide!

Coming up on Caught Red Handed...

Here's some food for thought. Next time you order a pizza,

best check no-one's eaten it before you.

And this man makes a meal of a jewellery heist -

literally.

He swallows the evidence!

And in Wales, police close in on the gang terrorising shop owners.

This footage here was crucial to us.

This is Shotton Pond in County Durham -

a quiet little spot, popular with wildlife and fishermen alike.

The lake is really well established. It is really, really pretty.

We have wild otters, we have great crested newts,

salamanders, everything what you would wish in an area like this.

It looks like the perfect place to

unwind and enjoy the wonders of nature.

But these two visitors aren't here to enjoy the scenery.

They're here to ruin it.

I can't imagine why anyone would

want to dump that waste in that location. It's beautiful.

They are fly-tipping, with no regard for the law.

It's a problem that is out of control, and is even threatening

to close down the local angling club.

People will just see the general site, then they will turn round

and drive away, then I'll get a phone call saying, "Stevie,

"I'm afraid I'm going to drop out the angling club."

The council decide to take action.

We had the camera in this particular location here...

One tiny camera will help bring this beautiful area

back to the people who appreciate it the most.

Fisherman Stephen Maitland absolutely loves his home town.

He's the chairman of the Shotton and District Angling Club.

I've got a lot of passion for this area.

I've been involved with the angling club since I was the age of 12.

But for the last decade,

it's not just been the fish that Stephen's been trying to catch.

The fly-tipping began round about 13 years ago,

and we've had garden furniture, house furniture, sofas,

bedding etc, mattresses...

The blight on the area is so bad, Stephen believes it's the reason

his beloved angling club is on the verge of closing down.

Almost 80% of its members have drifted away over ten years.

It just makes you feel depressed, and...

wondering whether I need to chuck the towel in.

And it's not just Shotton Pond.

Fly-tipping is a problem throughout the county.

In 2012, there were a staggering

5,904 incidents of fly-tipping reported across County Durham.

45 minutes south of Shotton is the village of Headlam,

home to farmer Simon Robinson and his wife Joanna.

They, too, have been victims on a quite jaw-dropping scale.

My husband first heard about the fly-tipping in the morning,

so we jumped in the pick-up and off we went down to the field -

just couldn't believe it when we got there.

It's a truly shocking sight -

thousands of old VHS cassettes were strewn across their field.

12,000-13,000 videos, er...

videos of all description, from the Bond box set

to, er, exercise videos...

-SpongeBob SquarePants!

-Yes, yes.

The stretch of videos probably went for about...40ft.

The vast expanse of VHSs had been

unceremoniously dumped on Simon and Joanna's field overnight.

Even their nephew's excitement

at the unexpected booty was short-lived.

He's used to DVDs, so didn't quite know what a video was.

Nothing to play it on these days, so they were no use to anybody.

The most frustrating thing is the fact that if they'd done it

on that side of the hedge,

the council would have had to clean it up,

and on this side of the hedge, that means that I have to clean it up.

Er, so, yes, it was definitely anger to start with...

Unless the person actually gets caught

doing the fly-tipping, nothing can really be done.

Which is why a little CCTV camera can be a powerful tool

in the fight against this type of crime.

Back at Shotton Pond, council worker Ian Hoult has taken it upon himself

to put an end to fly-tipping.

After listening to the pleas of the angling club,

his plan is to reel in the culprits.

So, each individual site is assessed

for where we're going to put, er, cameras.

Here at Shotton Pond, there is literally a single road in and out.

But where do you plant the camera in such a huge area?

Well, a bit like anglers do,

Ian hunts about for a spot that gives him better odds

of landing a big catch.

Here, the area opens up a bit, which gave them their opportunity

to turn around, and then they came back and parked up here,

essentially to be able to throw off their waste.

So, we had the camera in this particular location here,

and they literally threw those... those flags straight at the camera.

Ian really couldn't have picked a more perfect spot.

A van pulls up.

Two men get out to dispose of their unwanted load.

The very first paving slab almost hits the camera

and it wobbles under the shock wave.

Without any regard for their surroundings,

they continue to chuck their rubbish out of the back.

Anywhere will do.

I can't imagine why anybody would want to do that in the first

instance. I certainly... It doesn't even cross my mind.

As you can tell, it took no time at all to be able to dump that waste -

and then they're off again.

So, you know, I can't imagine why

anybody would want to dump that waste in that location.

It's beautiful...

It's an ugly scene in a beautiful location -

but it's good news for Ian.

Some of the footage that we used

was really useful, in terms of taking it to the police,

and through that, we were able to identify

the individuals that were concerned.

Thanks to the CCTV evidence, these two were fined a combined total

of £635, and ordered to pay costs of a further £760.

Ian gave angling club chairman Stephen Maitland

the news he had been hoping for.

I got a knock on the door off the council, who had said,

"We have caught two fly-tippers on camera."

And I thought, that's really, really good news.

From that point, I knew then I had something to work on...

to get the momentum going, get the wheels in motion,

to get further things done to stop any further damage,

any further fly-tipping.

And it was through the cameras - that actually was the turnaround

for our salvation of the angling club.

And the clean-up continues throughout the county.

On Simon and Joanna's farm,

the makeshift video library has been relocated.

When the council came to clear it up,

they came in several vehicles, with the cages over the back,

and they filled two or three of those, I think.

A local rubbish collector admitted taking the videos

from a second-hand shop, but says

he then passed them onto someone else to dispose of.

He admitted breaching the Environment Protection Act,

and magistrates fined him £143 and ordered him to pay £350 in costs.

Joanna still can't believe the audacity of the fly-tippers.

I wouldn't go to somebody's house

and just dump a bag of rubbish in their front garden. Erm...

And you know, it's just sickening.

This is what Durham's about, it's beautiful.

It's a beautiful location - and Durham's a beautiful place.

With the county's fly-tipping problem on the wane,

Stephen is angling for a better future for his fishing club.

The council have installed a gate which only lets in its members.

Ex-members or new members

are now coming in in droves to rejoin the angling club.

As we speak, I'm actually on 112 members,

so I'm up 22 from this time last year,

and members are still coming in, so it's looking good for the future.

Nothing beats a good takeaway every now and again,

and it's even better when you get it delivered right to your front door.

Mind you, after watching this, you might want to pick it up yourself.

The man entering this lift is delivering a pizza.

He presses the button, and as soon as the door closes,

he unzips the bag and takes out the box.

He then, lo and behold,

starts to tuck into the tasty toppings himself.

Let's call him Peter Piper. Why?

Because he picks a peck of pepperoni evenly from each separate slice.

With the lift fast approaching the right floor,

he closes the box and puts it back.

Spare a thought at this point for the hungry person

waiting for their yummy fresh pizza to arrive.

Little did they know.

But they do now.

News reports say the pizza company has fired the delivery man

and introduced sealed boxes to stop any more pizza pilfering.

In South Wales, we've seen how Detective Sergeant Daniel Michel

is hunting for a gang of robbers who are targeting local shops.

They would turn up at a local village shop in a large group.

They would all go into the shop, not all at the same time,

but once they enter, straight away they would engage the shopkeeper

behind the counter.

They were just buying everything.

Chocolate, wine, magazines, all the spicy things and everything.

The shopkeeper's attention was distracted from the door to the flat.

The group even uses a baby to help distract the shopkeeper.

"Aww, look at the cute baby. It's lovely.

"How old is the baby?" Meantime...

One member of the gang then would slip to the shopkeeper's flat and

would go through there looking for the items of highest value to steal.

Then, as soon as that person comes back down to the shop,

the gang leaves.

Luckily, most of the shops have CCTV cameras in operation.

There was a significant amount of CCTV to go through,

so a small team was brought together to investigate these crimes only.

And then one particularly interesting piece of footage

comes in from a shop in Pontypridd.

It shows the gang's real target is the shopkeeper's flat.

This footage here was crucial to us.

The placement of the CCTV cameras both outside the shop

and inside enabled us to see exactly what happened.

The gang arrive in dribs and drabs. First, two women enter the store.

30 seconds later, three men.

One of them has a very distinctive hairstyle.

We've seen that before in the other lady's shop.

Next, two more women arrive.

The men distract the shopkeeper

while the women mill about at the back of the shop.

One of them makes sure the coast is clear.

Her accomplice moves a card stand aside

and then quickly ducks through a doorway to the flat upstairs.

A moment later, the owner's young daughter notices that the card stand

is out of place and she goes to move it back.

The little girl now is being coaxed towards the front of the shop

by some of the gang members.

She put the card stand back, so they're asking her,

"Can you come to the front with us?"

What appears to be just an innocent conversation between this gang member

and the young girl is actually a very meticulous

and organised conversation

intending to keep her distracted and away from the back of the shop.

Ten minutes after sneaking into the family's flat,

the thief comes back out.

Here now we see the gang member who's been in the flat

and has stolen the jewellery and the cash,

she comes out from the flat door,

sneaks around behind the card stand.

She gets herself ready

and then she immediately leaves the shop

accompanied by a couple of other gang members,

and here now we just see the last of the gang members

just politely thanking the shopkeepers for their help

and saying goodbye, and then they leave the shop.

Daniel's team meticulously compares evidence

from a number of different shops.

We could see who we believed were members of the gang

and what they were doing.

But we didn't know who they were.

Also as a result from the CCTV outside the shops,

we could see vehicles which we believe the gang were using.

The vehicles are traced to an area near Birmingham

and ten people are arrested.

They were brought back down to the South Wales area.

Our investigation kicked on then,

and by actually having those people under arrest

we could see what they looked like and pick them out from the CCTV

in the number of shops where they played their role.

Eight members of the gang are found guilty

of conspiracy to commit burglary

and sentenced to a total of 24 years between them.

During their five-month shopping spree

they managed to steal £41,000 in cash

and £128,000 worth of jewellery.

The gang hit victims also in the Somerset

and Midlands areas, but as far north as well as Cheshire,

Yorkshire and Manchester.

The convictions are a relief for many shopkeepers around the country.

The police phoned and said, "We got them."

So I was like, "Wow, that's good." We are really happy that...

I hope they're not going to go on doing to other people like us,

you know. We are working hard to, you know, make our living

and then somebody just comes overnight and robbed the whole thing

one day. So that's not nice, is it?

Daniel's also delighted that the work of his team has put such

a large gang behind bars.

I think that's a very good result.

Firstly it's a good result for our victims.

They see that the people who've stolen from them are punished

by the law. Also I feel it's a very good result

in that the message it sends out to anybody else considering

this type of crime, it'll prevent them from doing it

cos they'll have something to think about.

The police really value CCTV footage

which shows offences being committed.

All we would ask, is make sure that the quality of the picture

it captures is really good.

The better quality the evidence,

the more likely we are to identify the suspect.

While we've seen how some criminals operate in highly-organised gangs,

others set off to steal with next to no preparation

and precious little intelligence.

This is a large city centre jewellery store.

All is quiet inside. The CCTV camera outside shows a man approaching.

He heads to the shop security door and waits to be buzzed in.

Once the door is open, he strolls towards a counter

and asks for assistance.

He says he's after an engagement ring, and the assistant

takes him over to have a look at the selection of sparklers.

He appears to take a particular fancy to a white gold ring

worth £2,000. Hmm, very bling.

He decides he simply has to have it,

but he's not planning on paying for it.

But this dim-witted thief has forgotten an important detail.

Because he was buzzed into the shop, he also needs to be buzzed out.

He's trapped.

But this rough diamond isn't the sort to give himself up.

He has a cunning plan.

He raises his hand, puts the ring in his mouth and swallows.

Unbelievably, under the watchful eye of 16 surveillance cameras,

he's now denying all knowledge of the ring.

The police arrive, but this thief clearly thinks he's a cut above

the rest and doesn't even seem bothered.

All the while he's still digesting his impromptu

breakfast at Tiffany's.

The police check his jacket for the missing ring,

but of course it's nowhere to be found.

Satisfied that the vital evidence is safely stashed somewhere

where the sun doesn't shine,

they leave and request a search warrant with a difference...

for inside his stomach.

Police order an X-ray and find exactly what they are after...

the world's most expensive gastric band.

After waiting a while for nature to take its course,

the ring finally...reappears and is returned to the jeweller's.

This dopey diamond smuggler has been charged with theft

and falsifying physical evidence.

Now, there's a story that's hard to swallow.

Join us next time when more crooks

and con artists get caught red-handed.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd