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 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 we walked in, I knew who he was.

And the general public too, can help an unsuspecting crooks

get their comeuppance.

-We definitely needed proof.

-You are 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 is up to no good had better think twice.

They might just get caught red-handed.

A violent smash and grab.

I could see his hammer in his hand and I realised then,

"We're in trouble."

Dave struggled to protect his family and his business

but is it a wise move?

Also today -

you'd better hope you never see this man on your train.

He stole from six trains, property valuing up to £11,000.

Can police stop this prolific baggage thief in his tracks?

And the criminal making £750,000 and leaving their victims teed off.

That's actually my set of clubs going out the door now.

The town of Andover in Hampshire -

it's just before ten o'clock

and the CCTV cameras in this jeweller's show the assistant

quietly serving a customer and her two-year-old grandson.

But outside, the camera is about to capture the terrifying moment

two criminals roar up on a high-powered motorbike.

The guy came in and shouted out,

"Stay where you are and you won't get hurt."

There was a lot of screaming.

There was a lot of hysteria. There was a lot of crying.

These masked motorbike raiders smashed their way into cabinets

holding expensive watches and they don't care who gets hurt.

Trying to protect his family from the raiders

left shop owner David facing some hard facts.

I was disappointed in myself.

It came home to me that I'm not invincible any more.

Dave bravely grappled with the raiders.

He can't stop them but he manages to grab something that will

later prove absolutely crucial.

Dave Mellor runs three successful jeweller's in Hampshire

with his wife, Christine, and their three children.

He has grown the business from humble beginnings.

I started off with £400 worth of stock

and went off to Blackbushe Market in 1976 and that started the business.

All his hard work paid off and the business is still going strong,

nearly 40 years later.

I wanted my name up on several shops and my children in the business

and I'm very, very lucky to have that situation now.

But one quiet Wednesday morning, Dave was not so lucky.

A regular customer is in the shop with her two-year-old grandson.

She chats to a member of staff

while Dave is working in an office out the back.

But this is about to become a crime scene.

I'm in the workshop and I'm doing a job on a watch

and I can hear this motorbike coming up. I didn't think nothing of it.

The guy came in and shouted out,

"Stay where you are and you won't get hurt."

And that was it. I could see his hammer in his hand.

I realised then that we're in trouble.

The robber knows exactly what he wants

and heads straight to the window display, full of expensive watches.

The next thing I hear is the cabinets smashing,

my girls screaming.

It was very, very loud. The glass was flying everywhere.

He was hitting it with his claw hammer and pulling it as well,

so he could get his hands in to steal the watches.

Glass shatters across the room, the customer throws herself over

the pushchair in a desperate attempt to protect her grandson.

With his family and customer threatened,

Dave courageously confronts the robbers.

I just went at him. I just pushed him through the door.

In the desperate struggle,

Dave falls against the side of the moving motorbike.

I just ended up on the floor.

Him being a lot younger than me, he managed to get up a lot quicker.

Dave may be down but he is not out.

He wants his watches back and makes a grab for the robber's bag.

He panicked and let go of the rucksack

because he wasn't going to drag me along the street and that was it.

He raced after his mate because his mate was starting to leave him

and jumped on the motorbike and off they went.

Dave's worried the thieves may return for the bag.

I threw it over my shoulder to get it as far away from me as possible,

giving me time to get up, if they come back for it.

Back in the shop, Amy, Dave's daughter,

makes sure the grandmother and toddler are OK.

Another member of staff from the jeweller's

and a woman from a neighbouring shop rushed to help Dave.

I was annoyed that he had got away.

That was one thing I was disappointed in myself

because it came home to me that I'm not invincible any more.

In just six seconds, the raiders had got away with £13,000 worth

of watches, despite Dave's valiant efforts to stop them.

He is left injured and in shock after the violent confrontation.

The police arrive.

Detective Constable Ben Lee of Hampshire Constabulary

is there first and finds an emotional scene.

We could see that everyone was very much shaken.

There is a young lady member of staff who was inconsolable

but you've also got a job to do. You got to find these offenders.

DC Lee starts by checking the bag Dave managed to grab

as the bike pulled away.

It doesn't contain any of the valuable watches

but it does contain something of great value to the police.

Inside the bag was a mobile phone.

As soon as we got the phone, we were able to trace one of the suspects

and on the phone itself, we had all his contacts, his family details.

The mobile belongs to a man called Luke Peverell

but the police will need to prove he is directly connected to the

robbery because the robbers might have found or stolen his phone.

It is then that Dave's wife remembers two men who

visited his shop a few days earlier.

They had gone straight to the expensive watches.

Both were caught on shop CCTV camera.

My staff were wary of the way they behaved.

They were suspicious of them.

Then a breakthrough.

CCTV from another of Dave's shops shows one of these two men

had recently visited there,

possibly checking it out as an alternative target.

This footage gives a much clearer image of the suspect.

It is sent to other police forces and sure enough, the Metropolitan

Police identify him as Luke Peverell, a known London criminal.

One down, one to go.

But we needed that pillion rider. We needed to know his identity.

Our colleagues in the London area had given us a name

and said who the first suspect was working with.

Now, DNA that was taken from the bag corroborated that and gave us

that second person's name.

Peverell's accomplice is called Tom White.

Now armed with both names, the police set about finding them

in a game of cat and mouse.

They've known, I think, that the police were on to them

and they were going from hotel to hotel in and around the London area.

Within seven days, we had managed to catch them at a hotel

and arrest them.

With such overwhelming evidence at court,

the thieves plead guilty to conspiracy to rob.

Tom White and Luke Peverell are both sentenced to five years imprisonment

and ordered to pay victim surcharge.

It was brilliant, that news was fantastic.

It was a very good sentence. We were very happy with that.

Dave's risky wrestling with the raiders,

when he managed to grab the bag, proved crucial.

His actions on that particular day were nothing short

of brave and amazing.

We can't advise as police officers, for any member of the public

to do that but his actions have left valuable evidence at the scene.

Dave and his family are very relieved to know

the robbers won't be back any time soon.

They've done a grand job.

First class, the police, first class.

The more evidence left at the scene of a crime,

the more chance there is of catching the crooks.

So, if people are unlucky enough to be the victim of a crime,

there are things they can do to help police catch the perpetrators.

After an incident,

it's really important

that the scene is locked down.

In effect, it's frozen in time.

We don't want people to go into that particular area and eat and drink

and perhaps allow pets into that area

because of all of those things can affect the forensic recovery

which might lead to the arrest of a suspect.

Police CSIs see crime scenes

much, much different

to the general public.

They are highly trained and they will see things that we won't see.

A lot of forensic evidence isn't visible to the naked eye.

Most people probably watch CSI

on the television

and it's not dissimilar to that

so we can get fingerprints off hard surfaces, glass in particular,

but DNA, in particular, is so sensitive now

that we can pick DNA off virtually any surface.

Coming up -

stealing from golf clubs may not sound like major crime

but these two crooks are walking away

with hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of equipment.

Police want to put an end to their game.

The scale of this was quite incredible.

It really did stretch the length and breadth of the UK.

Thieves love busy places and busy people

and that's because busy people have often got valuables

in their bags that they can't keep an eye on all of the time.

Paddington train station in London -

it's ten days before Christmas,

one of the busiest times of the year.

The security cameras monitor the thousands of passengers

passing along the concourse,

both daily commuters and those going home for the holidays.

Amongst the crowd, this man looks like an ordinary commuter.

His intentions, though, are anything but ordinary.

He stole from six trains, property valuing up to £11,000.

This man is a prolific thief, targeting bags on trains.

He's already known to the police.

He changed slightly with his appearance.

It's a couple of years since I last dealt with him

but you can still tell it's him.

While he may have changed,

the effect he's had on his victims remains the same.

The upset, the devastation that you've lost all of your belongings.

He has taken the victim's suitcase and that's Christmas ruined.

The British Transport Police have the task of keeping people

and their possessions safe on the nation's railways.

Detective Constable Dave Graney specialises in catching

the thieves who target the transport network.

It's a big problem, when we have lots of different teams who go out

and about in plainclothes looking for the thieves.

We've also got teams that carry on the investigations.

Four million people use the railways every day.

There are plenty of opportunities for the thieves.

One method they use is to steal unattended bags from luggage racks

on board a train before it leaves the station.

It's an easy offence.

It's very hard to keep an eye on your bags once you're on the train.

They haven't got an eye line to where their suitcases are.

For many, the first they know about the crime

is when they reach their final destination.

It's very traumatic.

It's a lot of sentimental items in a suitcase,

it's all personal items, to the victim.

This man, casually wheeling away stolen property,

certainly doesn't consider the impact he has on his victims.

A few years ago, he went on a spree, stealing 18 bags -

one every few days from trains at Paddington Station.

Disguised as a passenger,

his technique was to seize his moment to jump on the train,

and then get off shortly afterwards with someone else's luggage.

He's thinking no-one's seen him, but he's wrong.

Transport detectives are experts at spotting criminals

from station security cameras.

When we get the crime reports,

we will find out where the victim was sat, which carriage,

so we look around that area to see if there's anybody coming off

and here is a person coming out with a bag.

To check he's got the right man, Dave rewinds the footage.

This is the suspect, you can tell he hasn't got any luggage with him

and then he boards where the luggage rack is.

50 seconds later, he comes out with the bag.

They didn't know the thief's name but had seen him

often enough to recognise him.

Then one day, they struck lucky.

We captured him by...myself and my colleague just thinking,

"Let's go over to Paddington and have a look, cos we finish late."

Then we bumped into him.

The man taking bags was Adam Newton.

He'd been travelling by train from Nottingham to commit his crimes.

He was caught and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

End of story, you might think. Well, not quite.

Fast forward three years.

It's Christmas time again.

Claire is packing her bags after visiting her friends in London.

She's going to catch a train back home to Edinburgh

from King's Cross Station.

I had packed my favourite things.

I also packed a whole load of jewellery as well

cos I can never decide what I want to wear.

When we got on the train, we put our luggage on the racks,

sat down in our seats which were literally three seats away.

But our backs were to it.

For the next minute or so, I kept looking around but then I went,

"OK, it'll be fine."

The train leaves London and over an hour later,

Claire goes to find her bag.

I got up just to check it was there and discovered that it was gone.

With the help of a guard,

she frantically searches all the carriages

but it's nowhere to be seen.

At the time, it's just awful.

The upset, the panic and this feeling of utter devastation

that you have lost all of your belongings.

It was very sad to discover that some of my favourite pieces

that I'd had for years and years and years had been taken.

Claire phones the British Transport Police, only to find out

that her theft isn't the only one that has happened at the weekend.

Six bags have been stolen from Paddington

and two from King's Cross.

Their combined worth is £11,500.

The reports land on Dave's desk a couple of days later.

He wastes no time and heads for Paddington.

I went to the CCTV suite myself

and I was able to follow the person around

and get the best camera for the best image.

Eagle-eyed Dave soon spots a familiar figure.

As soon as I saw him, I thought, "Gotcha!"

He had changed slightly with his appearance.

It was a couple of years since I last dealt with him

but you could still tell it was him.

Yes, it's Adam Newton.

Not long after his stint in prison, he's up to his old tricks again,

but this time, he's not waiting days between thefts, but minutes.

This is him, he went straight from the over bridge

down to the platform and that is him going into the train there.

I don't think he studies what suitcase he takes,

he just goes for the easiest one.

Moments later, he's back on the platform

with someone else's rucksack over his shoulder.

He's taken the bag out of the station,

spending a couple of minutes rooting through it,

seeing if there's anything straightaway that appeals to him,

and then he'll go straight back onto another train.

This is a new tactic for him,

getting onto the train with a stolen bag

and then swapping it for a different bag.

Here, he has stolen two suitcases

and decides to visit the gents to rifle through them.

He even manages to sweet-talk his way in without paying.

This is him leaving without any of the suitcases.

Straightaway, he goes on to another train.

He has no idea what's in the luggage

but just looks for anything valuable,

like jewellery, phones and laptops.

It's definitely a lucky dip.

If they steal enough, soon enough they will get something they like.

For Claire, knowing the random way in which Newton selects the bags

puts her mind at ease in one way.

The fact that it isn't people he targets slightly reassured me,

because there is an element of feeling unnerved by the fact

you feel like you might have been targeted for whatever reason.

Newton seems to have forgotten that the cameras that

caught him last time are still there, recording his every move.

This one, on board a train, actually catches him taking a bag.

He's seen his opportunity now.

He's taken the victim's suitcase.

And that's Christmas ruined.

Armed with the footage, Dave goes up to Nottingham to look for him,

and finds him already in a police cell for another crime.

This time on his own patch.

He was sitting in custody for the unrelated matter and, as soon

I walk in, he started smiling and he said, "Look, can we do a deal?"

I said to him, "If we get all the property back, then I'm sure we can do something."

Unfortunately we didn't, so we ended up charging him with all the offences.

In court, Newton is sentenced to 15 months in prison.

But the detective work doesn't stop there.

They managed to find

and reunite five of the missing bags with their owners.

They were grateful to us, especially one

who trekked through all the compartments and found

her computer, which was still in there, so she was quite happy.

Another happy owner is Claire.

Her jewellery is still, sadly, missing,

but her bag was returned with everything else in it.

One officer arranged for my bag to be delivered to Edinburgh Waverley,

where I picked it up on Christmas Eve.

So I got my bag back for Christmas, which was ridiculously amazing,

so I am forever grateful to him.

Coming up next, the dangers of illegal street racing.

But luckily these reckless drivers are heading for the pits.

No, Formula One hasn't swapped the streets of Monte Carlo

for the streets of Tyneside.

These reckless drivers are putting a lot of people, including

themselves, in serious danger by turning roads into racetracks.

And they're off!

One by one, they line up at these traffic lights, wait for them

to change and then speed off.

Luckily, one of the onlookers was so excited

he posted some of his mobile footage of the race on the internet.

This gave police a clear view of all the car numberplates involved,

and led to the arrest of the shameless speed freaks.

They all pleaded guilty to dangerous driving in court.

Six of the seven were banned from driving, each one of them

received hefty fines.

So, it wasn't the chequered flag they got that day

but the black flag, and that means race over for good.

If I told you you were about to see a couple of thieves who had

just stolen goods worth £750,000,

you might think they had just raided a jewellery shop.

But you'd be wrong. Their victims aren't jewellers, they're golfers!

The only crime you might expect to find on a golf club is

someone cheating on their scorecard, maybe.

But most golfers take their game very seriously.

Golf is some people's lives.

They live and breathe the sport and they're not happy

unless they're playing the sport and are part of their golf club.

However, real crime came to this club one day

when the players' lockers were broken into.

And they were not alone.

The crooks targeted 36 clubs all over the country.

The scale of this was quite incredible.

It really did stretch the length and breadth of the UK.

The two thieves stole hundreds of sets of clubs, netting them

£750,000 worth of goods.

Victims were left angry and upset.

The victims range from the elderly to some very young juniors.

They were heartbroken as such. Devastated.

Dainton Park Golf Club in Devon -

in the changing room,

two men look like they're preparing for their round.

But they're not golfers.

Those clubs they're holding don't belong to them.

It's a crime they've committed many times before, and although their

image has been caught on camera, they themselves had eluded capture.

All around the country, golfers, like Miles, are seething with frustration.

That's actually my set of clubs going out the door now.

It's £1,200 worth, including the club that my wife bought me for Christmas.

Dressed in golfing gear to blend in,

they simply follow someone into the locker room.

If a door is locked, they sometimes con

a member of staff to reveal the door code.

Golfers, being polite people, would actually open doors for them,

say, "Hi, how are you? Did you have a good round? Have you played here before?"

Nathan Brown works at Dainton Park, where this footage was recorded.

He has visual evidence of how the burglars carefully

planned their crimes.

He wasn't actually stealing the golf clubs at that time.

He was peeking through, having a look at what was in there,

and he was marking the doors.

So it was quite clear he was going to come back to those ones.

The pair used this same method of pre-marking

the doors across the country.

At Taunton Vale Golf Club, Reuben Evans found the telltale signs.

The targeted lockers were marked in a distinct fashion with

a scratched cross.

This means as soon as the coast is clear,

the shameless thieves act quickly.

If they are disturbed by a golfer, they behave normally

and pretend to be preparing for their round, or duck into the toilet.

And here you see the offender, down the bottom right,

making his way into the loo.

I've just finished my round of golf.

It's quite frustrating watching it back because you'll see me

walking, and I actually walked straight past him, not knowing who he is.

Unfortunately for the police,

the thieves know the club's CCTV cameras are watching them.

They're actually being quite clever and careful to try

and avoid detection -

having a cap which concealed their eyes, or turned their back

towards the cameras.

With their identities hidden, there isn't enough evidence to

convict them.

So while they're still at large,

many of their victims buy new clubs and carry on.

They call it the bug.

People play it and catch the bug and then can't stop.

And it seems the crooks can't stop either.

A few months later, they returned to steal the replacement clubs.

For some unlucky golfers, like Miles, it seems lightning strikes twice.

Any second now.

Over goes the towel on them, and they've got my second set of clubs.

Miles was really unlucky.

His club took measures to avoid being targeted again,

including putting up a wanted poster, and it worked.

This is one of our long-standing members,

who actually recognised the guy from the poster.

After he put his clubs in his locker, he immediately came

and notified me.

But before Nathan reaches the locker room,

one of the thieves takes yet another set of clubs.

And he's on his way back to steal more when Nathan gets there.

I thought I recognised him but I wasn't sure.

I just simply said to him, "Can I help you?" He answered very sharply.

He said, "No, I'm fine." He then quickly leaves the premises.

These two continue their crime spree for over a year.

No golf club is safe, and the pair reap the rewards.

We think that the total value of the golf clubs stolen was

something like £750,000.

The thefts come to the attention of the National Crime Agency,

Britain's answer to the FBI.

This was considered to be organised crime,

because we have people who really did use each other's experience,

and plan ahead to get the property that they wanted.

On one occasion they got 20 sets of golf clubs,

with a value of £35,000.

The NCA uncover one of the suspects when he is arrested

and questioned about another unrelated crime.

His name is Daniel Lloyd.

During that investigation, the NCA search Lloyd's house,

where they discover more than they expected.

We examined his computers, and we saw he had been searching for different golf clubs throughout

the country, but he'd also been searching for ways to unpick locks.

With Daniel Lloyds their main suspect, the National Crime Agency

wastes no time building their case against him.

We were in a position, as a national agency,

to really pull together all our information,

to liaise with all those different golf clubs, different police forces.

For example, we know that he used to drive his vehicle towards

the golf clubs.

What we were able to do is to retrospectively track his

movements around the country very effectively, even though

he had changed his registration plates.

Lloyd and his partner in crime are about to land in the rough.

It was only when we came to knock on his door again,

and we arrested him for the burglaries, that he

became aware of the NCA's involvement in this.

Even with overwhelming evidence against them,

Lloyd and his accomplice, Joe McCaughey, plead not guilty in court.

The jury doesn't agree.

Lloyd is sentenced to four years and six months in prison.

McCaughey gets two years and nine months.

It's a good score.

The seriousness of what these guys did was

reflected in the sentences that they received.

And the golfers are happy to hear their bogey men have

had their cards well and truly marked.

When I heard that they'd been caught, I thought it was absolutely fantastic.

One, it was relief And one, it was absolute joy.

That's it for today.

Join us next time when the police

and the public catch more criminals red-handed.