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 antisocial behaviour,

police and other agencies are using new tactics and technology,

where the bad guys get caught in the act.

Brilliant footage. Police officers love CCTV.

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

As soon as he walked into the picture, I knew who he was.

And the general public, too,

can help unsuspecting crooks get their comeuppance.

-We needed proof.

-You're not going to get away with it.

You might as well just pack up.

It made him swallow his pride. It was brilliant.

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

They might just get caught red-handed.

Today,

when a gang of crooks target cash machines,

they send sparks flying right across the country.

They thought they'd come up with the perfect way of offending.

But they're about to lose their sparkle,

as police gather the evidence.

Also today, hounding down a dog thief.

Fudge is one of the increasing number of family pets

-that disappear every day.

-I was just in shock.

Everything was going through my mind,

worrying that something's happened to her.

But then, an undercover pet detective picks up the scent.

And a young driver's destructive way

of avoiding parking charges.

But there's an even higher price to pay.

CCTV of a man at work,

using a high-powered cutter to slice through metal.

But he's not in a steel yard,

he's inside a rural supermarket.

He's a member of a gang who attack cashpoint machines.

They were the kind of people that enjoyed the adrenaline rush

that this type of offending gave them.

They also break into family homes

to steal the fast cars they use to get away.

The thought that someone had been in my house

while my children were asleep

was really quite disturbing.

They think they've planned the perfect crime.

This was a crime type that we'd never seen before.

It had never been seen before, and it's never been seen since.

But these crooks have made a mistake.

A small supermarket in Borough Green, Kent.

It's one of a chain of shops

that house a specific type of cashpoint machine.

At around 11pm, a car pulls up.

Three men get out and collect tools from the boot.

They take less than a minute to prise open the door with a jemmy.

Once inside, they shove goods out of the way

to get at the cash machine

and start to attack it with a powerful disc cutter.

The discs that they fitted to the petrol-powered disc cutter

were ones that were sold for cutting railway track,

so real heavy-duty discs.

To disable the machine's defence mechanism,

the cut must be millimetre perfect.

But the gang have found a way to make sure it is.

They produced a number of these triangular-shaped templates.

You can actually see, on the bottom of this template,

where the disc has been held against the template

whilst they've cut into one of the cashpoint machines.

It takes them just four and a half minutes

to reach the cashbox containing £18,000.

They leave.

This is just the first of many similar raids they're planning.

But it's very nearly their last.

A member of the public has phoned the local police

who are soon in hot pursuit.

This is the footage from their in-car camera.

Kent police officers managed to get reasonably close to it.

It put a lot of pressure on the officers

who were trying to follow them.

The speeds they drove at were completely reckless.

The stolen getaway car is being driven at speeds of up to 110mph.

As the driver takes a wrong turn into a dead end,

he tries to spin round, straight into the path of the police car.

He hit the side of the stolen Vauxhall.

One of the offenders couldn't get out of the vehicle

because it's a three-door car.

The two sitting in the front escape,

but a third man in the back is trapped.

And he was arrested at the scene.

Officers recover the stolen money and seize tools from the car.

The arrested man pleads guilty to the burglary,

but won't grass up his partners in crime.

He comes from 160 miles away in Birmingham,

where it turns out,

West Midlands police officers already have an inkling

that some kind of criminal activity is under way.

Police Detective Inspector Warren Hines

has noticed one of the arrested man's associates,

Noel Reilly, driving an expensive car.

The man who I considered to be the ringleader

was spotted by myself and a couple of colleagues

driving a nearly-new BMW convertible car.

We knew that he'd just got out of prison

and hadn't got any legitimate means of income

that would fund that type of lifestyle.

It's not known how Reilly and his cronies

learnt how to raid cash machines,

but they've clearly perfected it.

Over a wide area,

they start attacking more stores which have the machines.

The gang offended away from Birmingham, where they all lived,

travelled some considerable distances,

targeting predominantly rural convenience stores,

because they don't want any witnesses seeing what's going on,

and this can take local police a little bit longer to make to.

But not every raid is successful, and at this shop in Leicestershire,

they leave empty-handed, when a smoke defence system is activated.

If they thought they were taking too long, they'd just leave it.

They were happy to walk away,

rather than run the risk of being caught by the police.

Warren and his colleagues investigate each burglary,

but the gang don't leave any solid evidence behind.

They always wear Balaclavas and cover their tracks.

They were all no strangers to the criminal justice system

and they tried to work round how they'd been caught in the past.

They don't leave fingerprints behind or DNA or anything.

Sometimes we have to bide our time to prove,

beyond all reasonable doubt, that these people are responsible.

And it's not just businesses the gang are targeting.

They steal the fast-performance getaway cars

from members of the public.

These were people who took a lot of pride

in owning a vehicle of such status, really,

and to wake up in the morning and find out that it's gone,

must have been gut-wrenching, really.

Kirsty and her family are one of the gang's victims.

They woke one morning to find they'd been burgled.

My husband was obviously really shocked.

He flew down the stairs

and his first reaction was his car had been taken.

And it was his pride and joy - his beloved Audi.

Somebody had found the keys in the kitchen in a drawer.

While they were inside,

the gang also stole Kirsty's handbag

and a laptop containing many family photos.

For me, it's not really about them taking the car.

It's more about somebody invading our personal space

whilst the children were asleep,

and that I find really quite disturbing.

To prevent more people from becoming victims,

and after investigating more than 20 cashpoint raids,

Warren and his team know enough to set up a raid of their own.

We'd identified an area of Birmingham where we believed

they were likely to be storing their stolen vehicles.

We recovered this vehicle.

It's fair to say the boot of this car was a bit like Dr Who's TARDIS,

to be honest, when you see the amount of stuff that we managed to get out.

It's a large haul of equipment.

They'd swap the number plates on the vehicle they were using

several times in the night.

There's some household cleaning agent.

They were really careful to wipe down all the surfaces

where they were thinking we might get fingerprints or DNA from.

Four men are arrested.

Noel Reilly, David Holmes, Simon Phillips and Darren Buckley.

Phillips is immediately sent back to jail

because he's on licence from prison.

But Reilly, Holmes and Buckley are released on bail.

The Crown Prosecution Service wants more solid evidence

before it proceeds with the case.

It's disappointing news for Warren and his team.

We just didn't have enough at that time

to enable the CPS to charge them.

It's a really difficult decision to make as a police officer.

When you're pretty sure you're on the right track,

you've then got to bail somebody

who you know is a committed and determined criminal,

and you know, in all likelihood,

he's going to go on to commit further offences.

And Warren's dead right.

Just two weeks later, a report comes in from Devon.

A cashpoint machine has been attacked

and has been left with a trademark horizontal cut

right near its locking mechanism.

The more offences you commit with a unique MO,

you really are flagging up to the world

that it's you that's responsible.

Whether it's over confidence in their methods or just plain greed,

Reilly and Holmes are stealing again, while on bail.

I really do think, in their own minds,

they thought that they'd come up with the perfect way of offending.

This is the chance Warren's been waiting for -

to pounce with an element of surprise.

We tracked them to a cottage just outside Exeter

which they'd rented off a...

It was a holiday cottage that they'd rented off a local farmer.

Warren sent a team down to Devon.

They arrive, unannounced, to catch the gang in their hideout.

They just weren't expecting to get arrested.

I mean, one of them made a comment -

what were we doing in Devon cos we were from Birmingham?

So, to say that they were surprised was a bit of an understatement.

The gang never thought the long arm of the law could reach them,

so they had no time to get rid of the evidence.

The police recover many items, like cash, sat navs and laptops.

Another stolen car,

£86,000 in cash that they'd had from one of the jobs

and some other very incriminating evidence.

So that really was confirming everything, all our beliefs,

all the other work that we'd done, we were right.

The strength of the new evidence,

together with the work they've already done,

give the Crown Prosecution Service what it needs to charge the gang

with ALL the burglaries.

Noel Reilly is sentenced to seven years in prison,

with David Holmes given six years and three months.

Simon Phillips is jailed for five years.

And Darren Buckley gets five years and seven months.

And to make sure that this type of cashpoint crime

can never happen again...

The convenience store chain in question

have spent millions of pounds improving their security

as a result of this crime spree,

specifically around the design of their cash machines.

They've also strengthened the backs of the machines

and employed a number of other security devices,

so, you know, this just won't work any more.

They thought they had planned the perfect crimes,

but their sparkling success proved to be short-lived.

They're waiting to take a taxi,

but first, they decide to take some pictures -

or rather, steal some pictures.

It was probably the most bungled crime

I have ever come across in my life.

But this taxi company boss isn't easily taken for a ride.

Also, a rubbish dumper has a rubbishy reason

and ends up getting dumped himself.

Next, three men in a parking lot who decide to feed the meter...

into the back of their car.

Oh, dear.

Looks like someone's had a prang in this supermarket car park in Dudley.

But this is no accident.

They've intentionally rammed their small car

into a parking meter to try to get their hands on the cash inside.

Their accomplice looks on from his rather smarter getaway car.

No way he's damaging THAT!

They may have knocked it to the ground,

but they're starting to realise that this meter's made of stronger stuff.

They line up a second assault on the stubborn machine.

Bang! This time, they've uprooted it,

at the expense of the bodywork.

Now the easy bit - stick it in the back and ride off in triumph.

Well, in a Peugeot, to be precise.

But it's not proving that easy.

As they struggle to get the bulky item onto the back seat,

a CCTV operator at Dudley Council calls 999.

The police are on their way.

Finally, they've got the meter in the four-seater.

Now, just to close the door...

Nope, they've still not got it.

This is probably the slowest smash-and-grab in history.

Finally it's in, and now it's time to make a quick getaway.

But this delinquent driver isn't going to get far.

The police are on his tail.

What follows is a short car chase -

a few hundred metres that don't end well for the bungling meter thief.

After causing £5,500-worth of damage, the machine,

filled with £1,000 in coins, proved way too weighty to outrun the law.

The driver pleads guilty to theft,

criminal damage and dangerous driving

and is sentenced to two years in prison.

He's certainly had to pay for his display.

We all love our animals, especially our canine companions.

So, when man's best friend goes walkies with a complete stranger,

has anyone got a lead on who it might be?

Could it be a dognapper?

According to the dog charities,

dog theft is becoming a massive problem,

causing great distress to owners.

The moment you realise your dog's missing,

you just go into sort of shock. You can't eat, you can't sleep.

It's the best diet you'll ever have.

For one family, when their beloved brown Lab, Fudge, was taken,

they feared the worst.

Everything was going through my mind,

worrying that something's happened to her.

But Fudge's abductor hadn't reckoned on an army of dog-lovers

and one pet detective in particular.

Every piece of information, she was, like, amazing.

Can they pick up the trail and retrieve their Labrador?

CHILDREN SQUEAL

St Helens, Merseyside.

When the Porter family decided they wanted a dog,

a friendly Labrador was a natural choice.

Fudge is a chocolate Labrador. She's nearly nine.

We got her when she was six weeks old.

She was the runt of the litter,

so we thought, if we don't take her, no-one else will.

And Fudge fitted right in as the family expanded.

When we had Dylan, she didn't really notice any difference.

It was just, carry on. She's part of the family.

They've always known that she's there.

But things changed one night, when Sam was putting her twins to bed

and let Fudge out into the back garden.

I was about 20 minutes, went out into the garden to look for her

and she wasn't there. So, I went out onto the front.

I checked the gate and it was open.

The gate is normally shut.

Sam starts a frantic search in the street.

Looking for her for about an hour,

cos my sister was there to look after the kids. I couldn't find her.

I went home and everything was going through my mind.

After a sleepless night, Sam has a brainwave.

I remembered that the CCTV from the community centre covered my house,

so they must have seen her either get out or be taken.

The community centre staff want to help.

They rewind their recording and this is what they see.

Sam's house is here and that's her garden gate.

At just past nine, a car pulls up.

A woman gets out, leaving the hazard lights on, and opens the boot.

As there are people passing by, she hides her face in the car boot.

She then walks towards Sam's house

and pauses at the edge of the driveway...

..but not for long.

She goes straight up to the gate and into the back garden.

Seconds later, she reappears with Fudge on a lead and runs to her car.

She puts Fudge in the boot, slams it shut and drives off.

I was just in shock.

I didn't think that anyone could do it, and just the nerve.

Shocked by what she's seen, at least Sam knows that Fudge is alive,

albeit in the hands of a thief.

With evidence to prove it's a dognapping, Sam notifies the police.

But, desperate to find Fudge, she also turns to the internet.

I put the video on social media,

mainly to see if anyone recognised them,

but also, as well, to maybe frighten the person who'd done it

into coming forward, or even handing her in.

They wouldn't even have to give their name,

they could just say that they'd found her.

Fudge isn't handed in.

But Sam receives messages from people who want to help,

including a very useful one

from somebody who goes by the pseudonym Miss Marple.

She's an undercover pet detective who is one of the volunteers

for a charity called DogLost, run by canine crusader, Jayne Hayes.

She set up the charity ten years ago and it's been a great success.

So far, the volunteers have helped to reunite thousands of dogs

-with their owners.

-I started the website because it happened to me.

My own dog went missing

and I realised afterwards it had been stolen.

If it wasn't for the help of other dog owners... Because at that time,

the authorities weren't in contact with each other,

and several reports had been missed.

And I realised then, if I get my dog back,

something's got to be done about this.

Jayne did get her dog back and was as good as her word.

The DogLost website is a group of people, all volunteers,

all dog owners, working together and now, more and more, working together

with the dog wardens, the vets, the local rescues and the police.

Jayne's local coordinator for Sam's area is Miss Marple.

She sent me a message saying she was from the DogLost website

and to make her a profile on the page.

Which Sam does.

When we got the footage,

Miss Marple was then able to use that

to spread the word around the area.

Miss Marple has contacts on social media sites who see the footage

and they, in turn, post it on to their friends.

Fudge's video gets seen by 20,000 people.

She was in constant contact with me,

and every piece of information, she was, like, amazing.

The amount of exposure pays off.

Names started to come forward and an address.

I'm not sure how she did it, but she did, so...

The police visit that address.

They said as soon as they knocked on the door,

and the door was opened, the girl panicked.

Um...she didn't say anything, she just got on the phone,

made a phone call, and within five minutes, the dog was at their side.

People power and technology are a powerful combination.

It's taken just a week to find Fudge.

Sam decides not to press charges

and the woman agrees to take part in a special justice scheme

that includes writing a letter of apology to Fudge's family.

I think it was just a moment of madness that she did it,

because there was... She had her own kids, she had her own dog.

It was just one moment what she took it, and she regretted it.

Fudge was brought home by the police the day they found her.

CHILDREN SQUEAL

It was amazing, getting her back.

We shouted her. She then ran to us and ran in the house

and was running all over the house.

And then, within ten minutes, she was back to normal,

so all's well that ends well.

There's Fudge. There's Fudge.

It's heartbreaking when a beloved pet goes missing,

but what can we do to help keep them safe?

You see your pet as something very valuable and precious.

Thieves see pound signs.

So, the usual precautions around, make sure your pet,

wherever you leave it, is safe, it's in a secure location.

If you leave your dog tied up in the street and unattended,

you're presenting an exceptional opportunity

to a thief to come along and take that animal.

Microchipping is so important

because quite often we find

that animals are abandoned once they've been stolen,

if they're no longer needed.

And if the local authority wardens do actually recover an animal,

the first thing they'll do is check to see if they've got a microchip.

Don't ever put the animal's name on its collar,

just a return phone number.

It introduces familiarity between the animal and the thief itself,

so it would make it much easier for the thief to sell the animal on.

If anybody is asking for money or anything else from the victim

for the return of their animal,

then that constitutes an offence

and we would want them to report that to the police.

If you've done these things, which is microchip and have identity,

we'll get your animal back to you as soon as we can.

Now, this next chap is doing his bit for the environment.

His bit to spoil it, that is.

Having chosen a nice, quiet spot on an industrial estate,

this man's emptying a large amount of rubbish from his boot.

This is a popular location for fly-tippers.

So much so, Salford City Council has set up a CCTV camera

to watch what goes on.

The man grabs more from the passenger seat

and casually chucks it along with the rest.

Then he drives off,

leaving a heap of waste for someone else to clean up.

And when they have, he's back making another delivery.

He's easily identified from the footage

and soon finds himself up before a Manchester magistrate's court.

Now, the excuses fly-tippers give are generally a load of old rubbish,

and this chap's no exception.

He says, in court,

that he was trying to impress his girlfriend's father

by getting rid of some rubbish for him.

He found the local tip closed, so rather than look stupid,

he tipped it in the street.

D'uh!

He has to pay almost £1,000 in fines, costs and compensation.

And, to put the lid on it, his girlfriend dumps him.

A group of friends, out one night, taking pictures.

But not that kind of picture.

Because this crowd ended up in the frame for stealing.

Hull city centre and a crime that's a little off-the-wall.

It's the early hours of the morning in a taxi waiting room.

And here's three friends who like taking photos.

Not selfies, but someone else's.

When you think to any of the great films -

The Thomas Crown Affair - where they'll take the original

and replace with a fake, there was none of that.

It was probably the most bungled crime

I've ever come across in my life.

This artful trio don't know it,

but with the help of local and social media,

the taxi company boss will take them on a ride

they won't forget in a hurry.

Hello, 6-5.

This taxi firm in Hull is run by local entrepreneur, Mark Fleming.

I've been involved in the business for about a year,

though the company's over 20 years old.

Started with five cars,

and then obviously slowly built up to where we are now, to over 100.

They recently moved to these old railway cottages

in the hub of the town.

They're the only buildings on the street

which survived bombing during the Second World War.

Obviously they tried to maintain the historic value of the building,

but then also provide the customers

with exactly what they need for a taxi office.

Mark has hung up photographs in the waiting room,

depicting significant landmarks and famous people from the area.

I'm very passionate about Hull.

Um, Hull has been named one of the most poetic cities in the country.

We've got people such as William Wilberforce.

We have Amy Johnson. We have got a really rich history.

So, it's basically celebrating the city as much as we can.

But one night, three people,

who have, themselves, been out celebrating,

are in the waiting room.

They're waiting to take a taxi, but decide to take something else first.

The young woman has become extremely interested in a photograph.

It was first "taken" in 1903, but she wants to "take" it again,

right now, for herself.

And she lets her friends in on her plan.

They block the view of the telephonist

working in the office, but seem to have failed to notice

the signs warning them about the security cameras.

It says everywhere, you know, "You are being watched by CCTV."

The woman spends several unsuccessful minutes

trying to stuff the large photo up the back of her jacket.

It wouldn't quite fit, so they had to take the jacket off again,

and her jumper, and put it back on again.

It was just a real mess, really.

Not to be outdone, the man in the red jacket

also takes a photo and manages to conceal it in his clothing.

Though it's not going to be the most comfortable of journeys home.

Finally, they're called over to the desk. Their taxi's ready.

Then, to order a taxi

and give their personal details to our telephonist,

and then, for our taxi marshal to assist in the crime

by pushing them into the vehicle,

and then our driver to be the getaway car was...

It was quite funny, really, to a degree.

He may be smiling now, but it had taken a lot of effort

for Mark to collect and exhibit the photos, so he wants them back.

He contacts the police and also decides to release this footage

to a local newspaper and social media sites.

It causes a small sensation in Hull,

and quickly gets the required result.

When it came out in the Hull Daily Mail,

"The Artful Dodgers" on the front page,

our phones just went crazy here.

So much so, that relatives of the actual thieves were ringing up,

saying, "This is my...brother, sister, cousin", whoever...

um, "And this is where they live.

"I will ring them and tell them to get in touch."

Now armed with their phone numbers, Mark calls them.

They actually were glad that we rang. They said they were so embarrassed,

they couldn't leave their own house because people were saying,

"You're the 6-5 thieves."

So, myself and one of my colleagues actually arranged to meet them

in a housing estate, on a bench, and collected the pictures

and they were ever so apologetic. It was almost...

It was quite nice, really. It was almost, like, laugh and joke.

I was glad that they'd seen the moral light,

that we'd embarrassed them and handed them back,

and they were quite glad to give them back.

So, Mark's got the pictures.

And, luckily for the Artful Dodgers,

he's able to see the wider picture

and puts it all down to youthful high spirits.

I am quite easy-going and the way I see it...

I think, when they've had a drink, yep, they shouldn't have done it,

but the way I look at it...

I thought, well, the way we've embarrassed them,

I'm sure they won't do it again.

And the other good thing is,

if anyone comes in to our taxi office now to try and steal anything

or commit any kind of crime, I'll just do exactly the same.

So, it's almost, if you want to come and embarrass yourself, do.

But otherwise, I took it quite lightly, really.

That's it for today.

Join us next time,

when the police and the public catch more criminals red-handed.