Stuart and Wendy Crime Scene Rescue

SIREN WAILS

There are 700,000 burglaries in the UK every year.

But right across the country dedicated police teams

are on the offensive,

waging war against the criminals who steal from local homeowners.

Police! Come and open the door,

otherwise entry's going to have to be forced.

For the victims of these crimes it can take months,

even years to come to terms with what's happened.

I just feel like... Oh! I feel angry.

That's the... You know, at the moment,

anger is what's coming across.

But in this series, we're about to show them and you

how we can all beat the burglars.

This is Crime Scene Rescue.

On today's show we meet Wendy, Stuart and their daughters.

A united family brought even closer by a burglary.

Yeah, family means everything to me. They come first.

After a day out, they returned home

to find their house had been ransacked by thieves.

They'd emptied my jewellery box, everything was gone. Everything.

My mum's jewellery. My mum died three years ago.

But as the police hunt for the criminals, it's our mission

to create a brand new safe haven for this hard working family.

-Oh, my!

-I can't believe it!

-It's unbelievable.

-I can't believe this is my bedroom.

West Yorkshire Police is the fourth largest force in the country,

covering an area of around 780 square miles.

It's 8pm and a break-in is being reported on the outskirts of Leeds.

Myself and PC Rob Quinn are first on the scene.

Wendy, just tell me what's happened from your side.

We all left the house this morning at about half past eight

and we haven't returned until probably 7 o'clock.

I noticed there was a light on upstairs and said to one of my daughters,

"Who's left the light on all day?!" Flipping electric bill and everything.

Gone upstairs. "Somebody's been through your drawers, Alicia." So we blamed the other daughter.

And then when I walked in my bedroom I could see all my drawers were open, the wardrobe, everything.

So I just said, "How the heck have they got in?"

So my husband came running downstairs and could see the back door.

-Through there?

-Yes.

-Would you mind if I had a look?

-No problem.

-Can you just show me where they've got in?

-Yeah.

I just put this pole up against something and jam it in there.

It's just a little bit more... security. It's nothing, you know.

We need a little bit more than that, Wendy.

We need a little bit more security around this house.

Anyway, so we've opened this door... to see.

Oh, here we go. Yeah. Yeah.

-It looks like they've gone straight upstairs.

-OK.

And they've emptied my jewellery box, everything is gone. Everything.

My mum's jewellery. My mum died three years ago.

-So, that's all gone.

-Yeah.

My husband's treasurer of a football team and they've taken that money.

-Are you all right just to show me where they've been?

-Yes.

You just go and show me.

-It wasn't until I looked... in my room.

-Oh, wow!

-They've obviously gone through all your personal items.

-Yeah.

These were full of earrings and necklaces and they've emptied that.

One of my mum's rings.

My husband's treasury money was in one of these drawers down here.

-This is a local club that he runs.

-Yes.

-Can I ask who's in these pictures here?

-That's my mum.

-This is your mum.

-She died three years ago.

-And the worst part of all this, it was some of your mum's jewellery.

-My mum's jewellery.

-I've got her rings on, her main rings.

-They're not going anywhere.

But... you know, the dress ring and her earrings.

I think we need to help you out somehow, don't we?

-We don't want this happening again.

-No.

They've taken the pillowcase off that pillow.

Do you know, they would have used that as a...

-Uh-huh. A swag bag.

-A little swag bag, yeah.

Hmm. It's just the thought of 'em being... in your house.

-Oh, Wendy.

-And then you become a prisoner in your own home, don't you.

-Well, we don't want that.

-No.

I'm not going to let that happen at all.

Wendy is truly distraught

and it's vital that we secure this family's home as soon as possible.

So I've arranged for Mark the locksmith to come straight round

to replace the lock on their broken back door.

Meanwhile, PC Rob Quinn is cracking on with the investigation.

I've got as many crime details as I can get to get the offence properly recorded,

preserved the scene as much as we can for scenes of crime,

see if we can get any fingerprints, that kind of thing.

Hopefully, fingers crossed, get some property back,

which is always the nice part of our job.

We'll do further extensive house to house enquiries tomorrow

and just see if we can identify any witnesses

or any CCTV that might become apparent.

While PC Quinn and his colleagues are at work on the case,

my mission is to make this family home a safe haven again.

I want to upgrade their security

and put the heart back into their ransacked bedroom.

I hate coming in and seeing you in tears, Wendy,

with what's happened, obviously because of your mother's jewellery going.

And it's heartbreaking, it's horrible.

And it's affected the entire family here

and that's what I don't want to see and don't want ever to happen again.

I think there's things we can do to really up the security here

and make a massive difference.

Does that sound like something you'd like us to do?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, if you wouldn't mind.

-HE LAUGHS

-If I wouldn't mind!

-Yeah.

-Let's do it. Let's get it done.

Let's make this place feel like home again.

It's so heartbreaking to see what's happened to Wendy and the family there

and the devastation this burglary has caused.

I really want to help them, so I'm going to get on the phone,

make some calls to some people I think might just be able to help.

Hi, is that Steve? Hi, Bess, it's Rav.

Hi, is that Barry? Hi, Gary, it's Rav.

Steve, I need a bit of a favour from you.

'Yeah?'

We really need to look at their security, I don't think it's good enough.

I want to do something extra for them on the inside

-and I'm really hoping you can help me out.

-'Yeah, no problem.'

-'I can give you a helping hand there, I'm sure.'

-'OK. OK.'

OK. I'll send you the details, Bess.

I'll see you up there and hopefully you can wave your magic wand.

-'Well, I hope so. All right.'

-Thanks, Bess.

-'Bye.'

-Bye-bye.

It's early morning and my volunteers are primed and ready for action.

The first of my troops to arrive is PC Paul Croft,

a Crime Prevention Officer who is here to give me his expert opinion

on how to secure this family home.

OK, Paul. So, obviously this is the front of the property,

and obviously one thing that's missing is an alarm box.

A nice box on the front of the house,

just to show the offender that there is one and that people actually care about this, yeah.

And if a burglar was to walk along, you have a look at the two houses,

see an alarm box on one and not on the other,

it's pretty simple to see which one they're probably going to target.

And this could be why this property has been targeted.

OK, so it's easily fixed, we'll get onto that.

They've got a light there. I don't know if it works, but it looks a bit old and tatty.

A new light on there, just to freshen it up a bit.

Yeah, it'd be of benefit to change that.

So we just want to lighten up this area.

Let's go and have a look round the back, see what's there.

Now another area of concern that you've pointed out is the garage.

If we actually give it a push, as you can see...

You see there. That does not take a lot for me to prise that open,

anyone could bend that up and crawl in.

We need to secure it in a much better way,

and I would suggest a garage door defender, which simply is a T-shaped bar

which would sit down at the bottom of the door here

and then it would prevent you from pushing it open.

Paul, this is the door that they broke into.

At the time of the burglary, we had a handle here that they actually snapped off.

Now, the homeowners have changed this with this flat panel there,

because they're actually happy not to have a handle on the outside.

-Security wise, safe enough?

-That's absolutely fine for me, yeah.

They can't use it as an entry door in terms of unlocking it,

a keyed entry, but blanking it off is fine.

The homeowners have even taken the steps themselves,

of putting in a couple of sash jammers there as well.

They just act as basically bolts, but that's an excellent idea.

And what these sash jammers prove is that although we're here to fix up their property

and make it as safe and secure as we possibly can,

if you're relatively good at DIY there's a lot you can do yourself.

But there's loads more we can do with a little bit of specialist help.

I want Wendy and Stuart to feel as safe as possible,

so getting an alarm fitted is my top priority.

And some of my willing volunteers are onto it straight away.

But it isn't just the security around this house that needs attention,

I want to make this place feel like their home again.

And designer Bess Sturman is on hand to help.

Bess, thanks for coming up. This is the bedroom that Stuart shares with Wendy

and this is where all their personal belongings were rifled through

and all her mother's jewellery was stolen.

And they're really upset by what's happened.

So I want to change that and I want to give them somewhere

where they can relax and enjoy their home again. And that's where you come in.

Absolutely. It's a really personal space, a master bedroom,

and it's a really important space to make their own again.

We're going to change the layout of the room a bit and make it feel like a completely different space.

As night falls, the police are continuing to investigate the burglary at Wendy and Stuart's.

And the results from West Yorkshire's forensic team have come back.

Unfortunately, there was nothing solid forensically

that came from the examination

to connect us to any suspects at that time.

So, as a result of that, we have to look at other means of identifying the suspects

using intelligence sources and seeing what we got back from things such as Crimestoppers.

We've got PCSOs out there on the streets talking to a lot of people.

As a result of the intelligence being gathered, we identified three suspects.

So, the next challenge for the police will be to try to track down the suspects.

Meanwhile, back at Wendy and Stuart's,

my mission is to banish the bad memories the burglary holds for the family

as they're still really struggling to come to terms with it.

It's been pretty devastating really, you know.

It's affected Wendy more than what it has done me, because all of her mum's jewellery, that's gone.

That can't be replaced at all. You know what I mean?

It's left Wendy really, really upset about it.

Money, I can get over that but jewellery we can't.

It's just... horrendous. It's the worst thing that's happened to me probably,

apart from losing my mum.

The thought of someone being in your house, in your room,

it's just horrendous. It's... it's horrible.

It's time for them to head off, so we can get to work

and hopefully restore their love for their home.

Luckily for me, my earlier calls really paid off

and a wave of helpers is descending on Wendy and Stuart's house.

Ladies and gents, thank you for rushing down here so quickly.

For those of you that don't know, this home belongs to Wendy and Stuart and their two girls.

Now they've just been burgled and it's really hit them hard,

because Wendy had so many sentimental things stolen that belonged to her late mother

and Stuart had the money for his local football team stolen.

So, I really want to help them out and that's where you come in.

So let's get in there and let's get this place fixed up. Ready?

-ALL: Yeah! Yo!

-To achieve my goal, we need to finish the alarm,

secure the garage, replace the exterior lights,

change the weak front door lock

and dramatically alter the look of Stuart and Wendy's bedroom

to get rid of the horrible memories from the night of the burglary.

Imagine someone going through your stuff,

it's just... it's not a nice feeling.

So yeah, all I can do to help them, definitely.

Next, it's time to clear the bedroom.

And the alarm guys are working flat out, too.

We're fitting a wireless system.

So we've got the main control panel in this unit here

and then we've got wireless detectors,

so there's no cables involved, all battery operated.

If a person comes in through the doors or the windows that will set the system off.

We've got pet immune detectors, so that they won't trigger the detectors.

Ingenious. What a fantastic gadget.

Perfect if you're an animal lover.

Upstairs the prep for the bedroom is almost finished,

which means Bess, our designer, can start turning her wonderful vision into a beautiful reality.

So I've found a fabric which is like a tree motif with flowers

and we're going to use that as the curtains, which is the only real pattern in the room,

and possibly a couple of cushions I might just sneak in there as well to liven it up a bit.

This is for the curtain rail for the new curtains to go on.

Just a better support.

While my team of local heroes are cracking on in the bedroom,

I'm keen to find out how we are going to solve the security risk posed by the garage door.

-Steve, good to see you.

-Hiya.

-How are you doing?

-All right.

-So tell me what you're doing with the garage.

What we're putting on here is we've drilled a plate to the floor, anchored it with two rawl shields.

It has a lug on it that fits over the top

and that sits in front of the garage door to stop it opening.

That's what we were concerned about.

-It wasn't that safe the security on this door.

-No. No. No it was quite weak.

That looks pretty safe to me.

It looks quite awesome when it's, you know on the floor and you see it, you know.

And this padlock goes behind it to lock it all together.

-Excellent. That is a great deterrent. That says stay away.

-Absolutely. Yeah.

You're not going to get through. Brilliant, Steve. Thank you. I'll let you crack on with that.

Well, we're doing everything we can to secure Wendy and Stuart's home

and the police are continuing to track down their stolen items.

Wendy and Stuart had a lot of jewellery taken.

Jewellery's something which can hold a lot of sentimental value.

And it's important for us as police officers to try and get that back for people.

We do go round all the local jewellers in the city centre

and broadcast what jewellery we're looking for.

We might stop and check someone with that property,

we might be searching a house for something unconnected and see it.

So a link to the jewellery, could be the key that unlocks this case.

Meanwhile, back at the house, work continues at a great pace.

It's looking very good.

Almost 90% of people who are burgled are emotionally affected

and Wendy and Stuart are no exception.

And no-one knows better than Wendy's dad just what this transformation will mean for all the family.

-So Edward, obviously you're Wendy's dad.

-Yes.

-You came over at the time of the burglary.

-Yeah. I came up.

-Just as moral support.

-Yeah. Yeah.

-We're doing some work on Wendy's house now,

-the trades are coming and going all day long as you can see behind you.

-Oh, yeah.

Do you think this is going to help just a little bit.

Yes, it'll just perk her up a little.

-She needs that, doesn't she?

-Yeah. Yeah.

With everything going it's... All the jewellery and the cash.

-Because she was devastated.

-Oh. yes. Yes. Oh, aye, well, it does.

I mean, you've been violated. haven't you?

-There's been somebody in your house that weren't invited.

-It's awful.

On a security point, making it that much safer on the outside,

that's got to be a positive for her and the family.

Definitely. Yeah. And the burglar alarm up. It's deterrents.

-That's what we want.

-That's what you've got to do.

Oh, yes. Great deterrents are the answer, and one of the best is a brand new strong lock.

I've been overwhelmed by the support our local trades people have shown for Wendy and Stuart.

Andy, you obviously heard what happened to the couple here

about the burglary and you didn't hesitate to come round and help out the pair of you.

And this has actually struck a chord with you

because you've previously had someone break in to your own home.

I've been burgled as well, yeah. Yeah, I know exactly how they're feeling.

It was actually my little girl that heard them and woke up and alerted me.

Yeah. It's an awful thing to happen.

But you just hope, if you were in the same position, somebody would help you out. So...

-Yeah. Let's hope so.

-You've just got to do your bit if you can.

It's almost the end of the day,

but my team of volunteers are using every ounce of their energy

working well into the night to get the job done.

During the break-in,

the treasury money belonging to Stuart's football team was stolen.

It keeps me active. I've played since I was back at junior school and now I'm 48.

And his team-mates can't believe something so awful

could happen to such a truly decent bloke.

Stuart's a great guy.

Really caring, a great footballer but a really caring guy,

who looks out for the guys, not just while at training,

but also outside if people have had problems like they have had in the past.

It's just disappointing that something like this can happen to somebody like him.

You don't know why he's been robbed or anything like that,

but it's just a shame that it happens to somebody who just tries to do something good in the community.

But Stuart and his team aren't the only ones who've been setting the pace.

Back at Police HQ, they've made headway with the burglary.

Following the intelligence received

in relation to Wendy and Stuart's burglary,

two persons have been arrested.

No further action's been taken against them as we're unable to link them to the offence.

There's one further suspect who we are actively looking for,

and we will be getting them into custody.

It's fantastic news that the police have a lead on a suspect

and hopefully somebody will be brought to book for this horrible crime.

It's early morning and already my gang of good Samaritans

are at Wendy and Stuart's home eager to complete the transformation.

There's a lot to do today. We've got the radiator cabinet to build,

we've got the curtains to put up, the blind to put up,

and then we've got to get all the furniture in and make it look really nice

for Stuart and Wendy to come back to.

The stolen football club money has not only affected Stuart,

but also his football team. So team-mate Andy has come round to show his support.

Well, the money goes towards paying for the pitches,

it also goes towards insurance for the players,

so if they get injured they're covered.

So if they miss any work days then that's paid for.

It also goes towards kit and football equipment as well.

It was awful to hear that, you know such an awful thing happened,

you know, being broken into.

Burglary is a truly distressing crime which touches so many lives,

but with the help of my volunteers I'm hoping that we can erase the nightmares

for this hardworking and ever so deserving family.

So you have to lift that side up.

-Lift it on.

-Just let you finish off there, Wayne.

Bess, this looks like a completely different room.

-Just finishing touches now, so tell me what's still to go on.

-Yes.

So we've got the photographs that I've put together over there.

That will go on that wall here, but I'm wanting to get the mirror positioned first so that we can get

a nice reflection of that and you get to see it in both aspects.

So the mirror going up there. Very, very fancy looking mirror.

I can't believe the change, actually,

-it's just completely different and I think they're going to absolutely love it.

-Oh, I hope so.

I really wanted to make the room completely different for them,

so that it has no remnant of the memories of Wendy coming in

and finding all of the mess all over the bed. Hopefully,

the only thing that will look familiar is the pictures of their daughters

-that we've put together for them.

-Very nice.

And everything else will feel a bit like a hotel for them for a few days.

-Well, I think you're really going to make a massive difference.

-Good.

So I think they're going to be very, very pleased.

Thank you for all your hard work. It looks amazing.

We're heading into the final hours before Wendy, Stuart and their daughters return home.

And I have to say that the determination and kindness shown by my team of volunteers

has been remarkable.

We've updated the burglar alarm, put in new locks.

Installed dusk-to-dawn lights,

and secured their vulnerable garage door.

But what will PC Paul Croft think of our new security measures?

I think if I have to give a mark here,

originally we'd have probably been looking at maybe three or four out of ten for the security on this home.

And again with what's been done, the improvements that have been made,

I think we'll be looking at perhaps an eight, maybe even pushing up towards a nine.

Wendy and Stuart were left devastated when their home was attacked by thieves.

But my army of helpers has turned this terrible situation around by revamping their security

and restoring the tranquillity of their ransacked bedroom.

But what will they make of our changes?

-Hi, Wendy.

-Hi. Are you OK?

-Yeah, I'm very well thank you.

-How are you?

-Good. Yes, fine thank you.

-It's good to see you.

-And you, too.

-Good to see you.

-And what have you been doing?

-How are you doing? Good to see you. All right?

-Yes.

-Do you want to have a look at what we've done?

-Certainly, if you don't mind.

-Follow me.

OK. Obviously the front of your house has changed a little bit.

As you can see, we've put a new light in there by the front door.

When it gets dark it will automatically go on, when it gets light it will go off.

It will give gentle lighting around here

just to make sure no-one's sneaking around up to no good.

Also, you can see on the front door we've actually changed the lock.

That's much safer than what was there before.

-And also if you look up.

-Oh, wow!

Yeah, you can see your new burglar alarm box flashing away doing its business.

I think that's such a good visible deterrent.

-It says your house is that much safer and more secure.

-Thank you.

So that's this side. Come round with me to the back

-and I'll show you a couple more changes we've got there.

-Right. Thank you. Yeah.

-If you just look here, we've got another one of those lights on the back there.

-Yeah.

Because this was the area that was attacked by the intruders.

So, if you brighten up that area it's going to put them off even thinking about having a go there.

And something else you can see on the bottom of your garage is that big red,

what we call a door defender.

Now, what we found when we did an assessment with a police officer here was that that garage door,

-you could actually bend it right up, and someone could have crawled in.

-Really?

So, it comes off. It's just one key and the whole thing lifts off and it takes five seconds.

-Fantastic. Thank you.

-OK. So that's what we've done on the outside.

-Yep.

-You probably want to know what's gone on on the inside.

-Just a little.

-Yes? Getting nervous.

As you know, we wanted to do something a little extra for you.

-Oh, my word!

-So if you both come in.

-Oh, my word!

-I can't believe it!

-Can't believe this is our bedroom.

-Unbelievable!

-Looks different, eh?

It's fantastic! It really is. It really is nice.

-I can't believe it.

-Yes, Wendy, I'll just go out and come back in

-Oh, our pleasure.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Cheers, Rav.

-My pleasure. My pleasure.

-I can't believe it.

-And do you think this is going to go some way into helping you try

and forget what happened when you walked in and found what the intruders had done to your bedroom.

-Just some way towards helping.

-Certainly. It's going to go a long way.

-Definitely. A long way.

-That's the main thing.

-Thanks very much.

-Two other people live here, obviously.

-Yes.

-The girls.

-So, do you think they'll give the thumbs up?

-Oh, definitely.

-Shall we have a word.

-Yes.

-And get them in. Right, girls. Gabby and Alicia, do you want to come in?

-Come on in.

-HE LAUGHS

-It's all beautiful!

-Come on in.

What do you think of your parents' bedroom?

-Wow!

-I'm not even... I just... No, I just can't speak.

-Just wow!

-How? Just how?

-Well, I'll tell you how.

There's a lot of people that made this possible.

And they've all pulled together,

they've all worked really, really hard and they would like to say hello to you,

I'm sure you'd probably like to say hello to them.

Yeah, we would do, we'd like to say thank you as well.

-They're out in your front garden right now.

-Oh, wow!

Let's go and see them and say thank you as well.

So come on out, and meet the team.

-There's a few faces you recognise there.

-Yes.

That have come to lend their support.

These are all local tradesmen and women. All heard what happened to you

and all said that they really wanted to help you out.

-Thank you.

-Hello, everybody. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Well, what an amazing transformation, not just with the house but with their emotions.

Just days ago there was tears of sadness,

and now there's one or two tears of joy.

It's great that we've been able to help this family after the trauma of the burglary.

The police investigation continues, but they're here with some clear advice for us all.

It's great that the whole community's come out to help Wendy and Stuart

particularly to get over the burglary that they've suffered.

The biggest thing for me around the communities and neighbourhoods

is looking after each other and keeping an eye out

and if something look suspicious it probably is suspicious. Go with your gut feeling.

I want that room. I want that room.

This bedroom is just amazing.

It just makes you realise that there's a lot of nice people out there.

There's a few bad ones, but there's a lot of nice people.

And I'm just overwhelmed. I really am.

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