Episode 5 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,

the police and other agencies are using new tactics and technology

where the bad guys are getting caught in the act.

-CCTV is vital.

-You can see they are definitely the people there.

The camera doesn't lie.

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

There's a eureka moment when you get that evidence.

And the general public, too,

can help unsuspecting crooks get their comeuppance.

-People won't stand by.

-I couldn't sit back and do nothing.

Yes! We've got her.

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

They might just get caught red-handed.

Today, a hooded raider shatters the peace of a quiet market town.

In three days, our safe, joyous little town turned into bedlam.

But he's picked the wrong place.

The locals here are a lot cannier than he is.

If there's anything going on in this town, Jason will know about it.

Also today, the case of the disappearing cases.

Don't assume when you're on the train you're safe,

because you're not.

This man's bagged thousands of pounds worth of valuables

from passengers' luggage.

That's my suitcase.

SHE SIGHS

And three men admiring a lawn at night,

but they're not green-fingered gardeners.

They're light-fingered thieves

looking to steal some artificial turf,

and they come a bit unstuck when it doesn't.

Hythe in Kent.

One autumn weekend,

this quiet coastal town gets hit by an unexpected wave...

..of crime.

I couldn't believe the venom in him, the force...

wrecking everything that I work for.

We had serious concerns in that he was a very violent individual.

Alarm spreads through the town

and a number of Hythe's many shops are attacked.

And worse - one of the shop owners is threatened.

He said, "Hand over the cash,

"or I'll hit you round the head with this hammer."

But Hythe is a close-knit town

that doesn't take well to being burgled and bullied.

All the jewellers in the high street all look out for each other.

People won't stand by.

And the locals and the police join forces.

Alison Chapman has run her antiques business for 35 years.

She's an expert in her field and well-known in the antiques trade

from her appearances on television and at charity events.

She grew up in Hythe.

Hythe is the jewel in the Kent crown.

It is lovely.

My parents, they bought an old shop

which they then converted into an antique shop.

And they loved it.

Alison grew to share her parents' passion for the business.

I'd lived with it for so long that I just fell in love with it.

Lo and behold...here I am.

She's raised six children while running the shop,

making it all the more special for her.

It has great meaning and it has fed my family

and looked after my family for years.

And in return, Alison has looked after the shop.

It's protected with a hi-tech CCTV system

and there's the added security of watchful neighbours.

Hythe's small business owners keep an eye out for each other.

If any of us have a problem, we let each other know

so that we can support one another in that.

There's rarely any trouble, until one weekend in November.

It's the early hours of Sunday morning

and Alison is away in Leeds at a charity auction.

It had been a brilliant night.

I was on a high, we'd raised loads and loads of money.

And then I start to get phone calls.

They're from a neighbour back in Hythe.

Alison's shop alarm has been triggered.

She watches her security camera output live on her smartphone.

To her horror, she sees the front door and cabinets look badly damaged.

She's been burgled.

I think the only way I can describe how I felt

is it's like a car crash.

You know that shaking that you get

and you feel as if the whole of you is going into meltdown?

That's how I felt.

The police are called.

Alison arranges for the shop to be boarded up, then rushes home.

When I first arrived at the shop,

all my children have gathered so that I was fully supported,

because they knew...

They know how much it means to us, really.

But nothing can prepare her for seeing the damage.

One of the things that I'm only grateful for,

that it happened when I wasn't here.

Because despite what the police say,

that, you know, if you are robbed, just let them take it all,

I don't think I could.

I really don't think I could.

If that man did me any favour,

he robbed me when I wasn't here to protect myself.

The burglar has stolen £12,500 worth of items

and also caused £4,000 worth of destruction.

But the police have found a crowbar the culprit left behind,

and send it to forensics.

And there's other evidence to check.

With every piece of glass that I hoovered up and picked up,

I knew he was just a man on borrowed time,

because I have cameras everywhere.

Next day, Alison and her staff

download all the recorded CCTV footage

and this is what they see.

2.30am, Sunday morning. A man with a tool bag stops by the front door.

He's wearing a hat and scarf to hide his identity.

At first, he spends several minutes trying to force the door open

with a large crowbar.

When that fails, he simply smashes it instead,

which is what set off the alarm.

Once inside, he attacks an antique cabinet.

Watching this man's mindless destruction hits Alison hard.

I couldn't believe the venom in him, the force that he was using on me,

who, I'd give you my last penny.

I mean, I help people all the time.

And here was a man...

wrecking everything that I work for.

To me, this is worse than being broken into home,

because it's my lifeline.

Without this, I have nothing.

And Alison isn't the only victim of crime over the weekend.

The police have been called out to several other cases.

Detective Inspector Bill Thornton takes on the investigation.

I was shocked to see these offences.

It was very out of character for Hythe to have that much crime.

We'd had three burglaries and an attempted robbery.

A wine shop and another antique store have also been targeted.

Both these businesses were broken into through the roof.

Could it all be the work of the same man?

The police are determined to solve the crimes quickly,

especially as one shop owner has been threatened with violence.

He came round in front of me,

opened his jacket to show me a hammer, and said,

"Hand over the cash or I'll hit you round the head with his hammer."

So, Alison and other locals start their own investigation as well.

It was like, eureka!

I know that I know you

and I also know the one man who can probably name you.

Jason is the Miss Marple of Hythe.

We'll see shortly the clever way

Alison and her fellow shopkeepers get together to help solve the case.

But the police believe that we all need to get involved

in ways to make our neighbourhood safer.

In order to be a good neighbour,

it's really important you're really aware of what's going on around you.

If you see someone in your street that you don't recognise,

don't be afraid to go and question them.

Ask if you can help them and what they're doing in the area.

And there's no harm in just gathering a bit of evidence for us.

You know, most smartphones have cameras now,

so take a quick picture

or note down a registration number.

There might be some particular signage alongside the vehicle

or a vehicle registration number that you can pass to the police.

Perhaps the front registration isn't the same as the rear.

Criminals will often use a cover story.

They will work in a particular area, drop off leaflets, speak to people,

and that way, they can build an idea up

of what kind of houses that they may want to burgle.

So, it's essential, if you are given a leaflet, then keep a hold of it.

This could prove vital evidence later on.

Paying particular attention

to the type of occupier they're speaking to.

So, are they targeting everybody in the street?

Or perhaps they're just targeting the elderly.

In communities that are looking out for each other,

crime and antisocial behaviour really does reduce.

Thieves will steal anything that's not fixed down.

And sometimes, even when it is.

In Stoke-on-Trent, this business sells artificial grass

and has a display patch at the front.

But when the owner comes to work one morning,

he finds some of it's... mysteriously disappeared.

Wanting to know who's pinched his patch, he checks the CCTV

and sees three men in hoodies at nearly one in the morning.

After a brief consultation

on how to get this green, green grass for their home,

they start on one corner.

They try to rip it up, but the glue holding it proves too strong.

They have more luck with the other side

and, over the next few minutes,

manage to pull up a section of the grass.

When the owner sees what they've done,

he'd like to tear them off a strip, too.

But he doesn't completely lose the plot,

as the lawn has been down for years and needs replacing anyway.

Still, rather than take the law-n into his own hands,

he's put this footage of the culprits out on social media.

So, someone - maybe someone you know -

will grass them up and turf them in.

Two teenage girls hitch a ride in their friend's car.

Sorry, ON their friend's car.

They think it's fun, but the sight of their silliness

will be enough to drive their parents and the police round the bend.

Busy people with busy lives

are quite often targets for opportunist thieves.

And that's because busy people in a rush are quite often careless.

Passengers dashing to catch trains at busy stations

carry a thieves' paradise of valuables in their bags and cases.

But surely we all know to keep tight hold of our luggage?

Everyone's aware at the train station,

like airports, where's your bag?

You keep your eye on it.

But once you actually board the train, you let your guard down.

And if we're unlucky,

one of our fellow travellers could be someone like this man.

He's a prolific luggage thief looking for an easy steal.

And there he is going away with a suitcase.

He steals approximately £20,000 worth of property in three weeks.

Don't assume when you're on the train you're safe,

because you're not.

Paddington is one of the largest of London's railway stations.

Around 30 million passengers pass through here every year.

That means a lot of luggage.

Detective Constable Dave Graney

has seen just how easy a target this can be for thieves.

When you're boarding a train,

you put your suitcase in the luggage rack,

then you try and find your seat.

You get all your bits and bobs out,

you try and get sorted for the journey

and, of course, everybody thinks the train's safe.

Recently, guards across the south-west network

reported a spate of suitcase thefts from trains.

Dave believes the offender may be snatching belongings

from London's stations before the trains leave.

He sets out to bag a bag thief.

It's called a walk on, walk off theft.

He'll target trains that are awaiting departure,

he'll board ten minutes before it leaves,

so it gives him plenty of time.

He'll wait till the train's busy and then he'll go into the train,

go straight to the vestibule, the luggage rack area,

find some easy suitcases to take out,

and he'll leave the train before it departs.

The bag's owners often know nothing until they reach their destination,

then face the sudden and shocking loss of their luggage

and, above all, its contents.

Even just the clothing can add up to hundreds of pounds.

You've got your sentimental items in there, electrical items,

and phones and things like that, in your suitcases.

One of these victims is Megan from Gloucestershire.

When she heads to London on business,

she packs her suitcase with clothes and jewellery

for different occasions.

I took a selection of things

that I normally wouldn't have packed for just one night.

So, a selection of different tops,

all my favourite stuff that I was wearing at the time.

My entire washbag, my entire make-up bag.

And I took my whole jewellery box,

including some really precious jewellery that is irreplaceable.

The next day, Megan arrives at Paddington station

for her journey home.

She picks up some shopping before boarding the train.

And I actually opened my suitcase to put it all in

and my little jewellery box was there,

and I just keep kicking myself

that I didn't pick it up and put it in my handbag.

Walked to the train, put my suitcase in the luggage rack,

went to the table, got myself sorted and sat down.

The train leaves just a few minutes later.

And half an hour into the journey,

the guard appeals for help finding a fellow passenger's missing suitcase.

And at that point, I thought, "I'd better go and check on mine."

And I'll never forget. I walked there and it was gone.

That was when the panic struck and you just...

It's just a feeling of emptiness and disbelief.

You can't believe that this has happened to you.

The train manager searches, but can't find the bags.

He reports both as stolen.

Megan makes her way home, where the full impact of the theft hits her.

I was so upset and I don't...get depression,

but if depression means you don't want to talk to anyone,

you don't want to answer the phone,

it's really hard to be happy or get motivated,

then definitely, I was.

It was a real after-shock effect

and I was really down for about a week, miserable,

and also angry with myself,

that I was so stupid to leave things that were of value unattended.

Back in London, DC Dave Graney is getting reports coming in

of multiple thefts.

But he's convinced they are the work of a single walk on, walk off thief.

We realised we'd got a one-man mini-crimewave at this time,

so he needed to be stopped sooner, rather than later.

He heads straight over to Paddington station to look at the CCTV pictures.

That way, you've got all the cameras at your disposal,

you've got all the relevant time as well,

so you can get everything there and then.

First, he views footage from an earlier theft the week before.

I knew the carriage where the victim was seated

so, fortunately, a camera covered the doorway.

Immediately, he spots something suspicious.

It's this man in a cap getting off the train with two suitcases.

That's obviously a good feeling when I can find a suspect.

Then Dave rewinds the footage

to see if the man had suitcases with him when he boarded the train.

He didn't.

30 seconds later, he exits the same door carrying two suitcases.

Two different victims on that train.

Now Dave knows the man's face, he can find out what else he's been up to.

Sure enough, there he is, wearing the same cap.

He obviously has somewhere to go with the suitcases,

somewhere where he can have a quick look

or root through the bags to see what's in there,

because he's straight back again on different trains, stealing bags.

Next, Dave looks at the images of the train platform

at the time Megan's suitcase was stolen.

She's seeing these pictures for the first time.

That's my suitcase.

SHE SIGHS

It's...a shock.

He's walked down the carriage and come back up

and passed me past the window with my case.

And I still didn't see a thing.

He's just full of confidence.

Not a care in the world

of the devastation and the sadness he's going to bring people.

Dave discovers the victims at Paddington aren't alone.

The thief has also targeted passengers' bags

at King's Cross station.

This is him here. He's got his flat cap, white shirt and rucksack.

This train has an onboard camera.

This is the vestibule area where the luggage is, there.

And he's got his green mobile phone there,

pretending to be on the phone, just to be less suspicious.

And there he is going away with a suitcase.

Literally 15 seconds, that took him.

On that particular occasion, it contained £800 worth of property.

The thief throws most away most of the victims' belongings.

He's only interested in cash and small valuables

that can be sold on easily.

Which is why he has to steal quite a lot

to eventually get something worthwhile.

It was approximately £20,000 worth of property in three weeks.

But the law is closing in on him.

The same day, police stop a man suspected of fare dodging

and who's possibly carrying a stolen laptop.

The man is released.

When Dave learns of this, his suspicions are raised.

Known for his ability to recognise faces,

Dave asks to see a picture of the man.

It's good news.

Just from that one image,

I was able to say it's the same person from CCTV,

because we've got some good facial images of the suspect.

Comparing it to this guy, it was definitely him.

The man is 34-year-old Gareth Colclough.

When he was arrested, he was carrying a train ticket from Dover

to another London station, St Pancras.

Dave puts two and two together and hatches a plan to catch up with him.

So, the following day, we all plotted up.

Myself and my colleagues were at St Pancras.

We had other officers scattered around different stations

to cover all bases.

Colclough walks into the trap.

Mid-afternoon, he walked through,

and he didn't actually pay for his fare to get through the barriers.

He what we call double-shuffled.

He walked behind somebody

who'd used their ticket to get through the barriers.

He thought he was being stopped for fare evading,

but when it was explained to him

that he was under arrest for a lot of thefts,

his face obviously changed.

It's taken less than a week

for Dave and his colleagues to put a stop to Colclough.

He's charged with nine counts of theft,

including stealing Megan's suitcase.

I opened up my e-mails.

There was one there from DC Graney, and it just simply said, "Got him!"

And I thought, "Yes!"

In court, Colclough is sentenced to a total of 28 months in prison.

The case of the missing cases is closed. This time, anyway.

But Dave has some advice for passengers.

We always try and advise people to keep their expensive items,

electrical items, with them in bags

and then just keep clothing and nothing sentimental

or worth a lot of money in your suitcases.

Unfortunately for Megan, her property was never recovered.

She gained comfort from the fact

that the British Transport Police caught the culprit

and also helped her to cope with the effects of his crime.

Their victim support unit rang me to see how I was feeling.

That, combined with the work of DC Graney,

was really, really helpful. And just being kept in the loop

and being felt that they were really dealing with things

was so much appreciated.

CCTV cameras aren't just useful for catching criminals.

They can also help spot antisocial behaviour.

Like this case of teenage kicks gone too far.

Some girls just want to have fun.

But there's nothing fun or funny

watching these two teenagers car surfing,

hanging onto the bonnet of their friend's car

while she drives them around.

And if that isn't stupid enough,

the driver's also filming them on her mobile.

And it's not just a brief moment of madness.

They go right round the block twice more.

But their siesta on the Fiesta is soon interrupted

when a CCTV operator guides the police to their location.

They take an understandably dim view

and the 18-year-old driver is later banned from driving for 15 months.

So, they'll take no joy from their ride.

We're back in Hythe, Kent,

where there's been a weekend of burglaries and an attempted robbery.

The victims include antique shop owner Alison Chapman.

In three days, our quiet, safe, joyous little town

turned into bedlam.

DI Bill Thornton is investigating the series of crimes.

The first incident happens on Friday night,

just after wine shop owner Kevin has locked up.

As he's walking home, he's stopped by a man.

He came round in front of me, opened his jacket to show me a hammer

and said, "Hand over the cash

"or I'll hit you round the head with this hammer."

Kevin refuses and explains he doesn't have the day's takings with him.

I said to him, "If you want the cash in my pockets, there we are,"

and I had about seven quid in change in my pocket.

I said, "Take that." "I don't want that. I want your cash in the shop."

I said, "It's all locked up. I don't carry it home."

The man eventually believes him and leaves.

Kevin continues home, but he can't relax for long.

Not been home 40 minutes, I think,

and the phone went and that's the alarm company saying,

"Your alarm's gone off, someone's broken into the shop."

The man has forced his way in through the roof,

causing £1,000 worth of damage.

He's also ripped out the CCTV recorder.

Fortunately, though, he couldn't break into Kevin's locked safe.

So, all he'd done in the end was grabbed a charity box,

so he's got away with about a tenner.

Later that evening, there's another break-in at a shop down the road.

Followed the next night by the burglary at Alison's antique shop.

Bill believes the incidents are connected.

For the location to have that much crime

within such a tight timeframe, it was natural to link them.

There is potential evidence at each of the crime scenes.

Kevin's CCTV system may have recorded something before being disconnected.

And there's an empty beer can at the second burglary.

Which was a fantastic breakthrough for us

in that we knew that we could get DNA from a can.

Where it's been handled, as well, there's potential for fingerprints.

And as well as the CCTV footage from Alison's shop,

they have the crowbar that the burglar left behind.

It's all sent for forensic analysis.

We sent that off on a fast submission.

We can invest in turning forensics around much quicker

if we believe that there's a violent individual

or someone that's desperate -

and in this case, he certainly appears to be desperate -

to get the results back that much quicker.

Meanwhile, Alison and her staff begin some detective work of their own.

They examine the CCTV footage closely.

I said, "He won't have just turned up here.

"He'll have come before. This will be built up."

They're right. There has been an earlier visit.

Rewinding back six hours before the break-in,

Alison sees two men stopping by the door, peering in.

A couple of hours later, the pair return with a torch for another look.

As he put his face to the window,

he hadn't got his balaclava mask or his hat on.

I saw all of him.

It was like, eureka!

I know that I know you

and I also know the one man who can probably name you.

Jason is the Miss Marple of Hythe.

If there's anything going on in this town, Jason will know about it.

Jason runs a jeweller's across the road.

Yes, Alison mentions Miss Marple to me quite a lot, so...

But... I...

Someone's got to do it.

He goes to have a look at Alison's footage.

And as soon as that picture came up and we paused it,

I knew exactly who it was.

The man had stuck in Jason's mind

because he'd filmed him a couple of months earlier,

and this is what he saw.

The same man acting suspiciously outside Alison's shop.

I've been in the trade 30 years

and you tend to have a good idea of who's shopping and who isn't.

So, I videoed him and the local PCSO identified who he was.

The man's name is Anthony Foord.

I was so happy that we could name this guy.

She phones the police. Their quick work has also had the same result.

The identification that Alison was able to make

came in near enough exactly the same time

that we received the name from the forensics.

The beer can from the second burglary, the crowbar from Alison's.

Even the disconnected CCTV recorder from Kevin's wine shop.

Each bit of evidence links Anthony Foord to the crimes.

It was fantastic.

When we went to arrest him, he gave us even more evidence.

He was still wearing the same top that we see from the CCTV

of when he recce'd the premises in the first place.

He's wearing the same trousers and he's wearing the same trainers.

And it's taken just two days to catch him.

In court, Foord is sentenced to five years in prison.

The residents are happy that life is back to normal

after their couple of days of mayhem.

Things have been settled in Hythe again,

so I'm happy that it was an isolated incident

that's not going to recur in the near future.

Very pleased to help the community and help Alison, and basically...

Even though she didn't get anything back,

you know, he's been arrested and locked up.

And Alison herself, despite the losses she's suffered,

has managed to find a few positives as well.

The kindness of other people.

People came to ask how we were, people bought flowers.

We had e-mails from all around the world.

And it made me feel not alone

and it made me feel that that the man was just one man

and we, the others, are many.

That's it for today.

Join us next time,

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