Amrit and Wendy Crime Scene Rescue

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! 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.

And the fact that they've so brazenly done it as well.

Very angry.

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 Amrit and Wendy,

a couple fighting to overcome the trauma of being burgled.

-Right.

-Yeah.

-Give us a kiss. I love you.

-Love you, too.

Since they moved in a year ago,

they've worked hard to create a comfortable home for themselves.

But now their safe haven has been destroyed

after their home was ransacked.

I feel absolutely sick that they think they've got the right

to be able to do what they've done, I really do.

And as the police attempt to track down the criminals,

we try and put the heart back into their home.

Oh, thank you very much.

That's really touched my heart. Oh, God! It's lovely.

Like many places in the UK,

West Yorkshire faces the ever present threat of burglary,

and last year the police here dealt with over 14,000 break-ins.

I'm going to join them on the front line

to see how they go about tackling the problem.

But while I'm here, I also want to do everything I can

to help the victims of this terrible crime

Police, emergency.

It's just after nine in the evening and another burglary has come in.

When did you go out to work, sir?

PC Graham Lawton is attending the scene at Amrit and Wendy's house.

The distraught couple recently returned home from work

to find their home had been ransacked.

This is the internal patio door, which has been forced.

There's a blunt mark there, which looks like a screwdriver.

It appears the burglars broke the lock on the exterior door

to gain entry via the conservatory.

I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing.

Somebody had broken into our house and taken some very precious things

that are precious to us.

We've worked hard all our lives, OK, to get ourselves things and,

somebody thinks they've got the right to walk into my house

and take my stuff.

A heartbroken Amrit and Wendy head upstairs with PC Lawton

to see what's been taken.

Even though they've left his bank cards,

the burglars have rifled through Amrit's wallet

and taken all his money. But that's not all that's gone.

Our daughter's coming up for the weekend, it's her birthday

we've bought her stuff for her birthday, they've taken that also.

The offenders have been in this room and as you can see

they've made quite an untidy search, pulling out drawers...

PC Lawton continues to check what other items have been taken.

In here, there's been quite a lot of jewellery.

They've been selective about what they've taken

but they've taken some expensive items of Asian gold and...

They've taken... I've noticed they've taken my earrings,

I had a bag of earrings there. My gold watch there.

The burglars have stolen a large quantity of gold

from this dejected couple.

Amrit had purchased much of the gold as an investment,

but some of it also had great sentimental value

as his parents had given it to Wendy as a wedding gift.

It's like hurt deep inside somewhere, you know what I mean?

It can't be replaced, can it?

Yeah. You can't replace it, not with money, not with anything else,

you know, because, it's something...

you know, my parents are not anymore here.

-All this make me upset a little bit.

-Mmm. It's OK.

And it's like, you know, it's not money. Not like some memories.

It's very important for you, you know what I mean.

I've heard about Amrit and Wendy's plight

and I desperately want them to feel safe in their home tonight.

So as a priority, I've arranged for a locksmith to come round

and fit a new top of the range lock to the back door.

Meanwhile, PC Lawton lists everything that's been stolen.

As well as the gold and a birthday present for Wendy's daughter,

the burglars have taken two laptops and two digital cameras,

one of which had irreplaceable photos of Amrit's late mother on it.

It's been a really traumatic evening,

but I hope that the new lock on their door

will at least allow them to get a little bit of sleep tonight.

It's the next morning and the police have arrived

at Amrit and Wendy's, and Sergeant Pamela Wright

is heading up a team of officers, who are about to go door to door,

to check if any of the neighbours saw or heard anything

-relating to the burglary.

-OK? So you've all got your addresses.

-So, off we go and let's get on and get it done.

-Right, Sarg.

Scenes of Crime Officer Chris Barley has also turned up,

and he gets straight to work searching for forensic evidence.

Sometimes mornings are a bit difficult because of the dew,

but in this case we've been fine.

We have received information from the members of the public that live here,

one that there is CCTV that may have caught somebody -

we've got to check that out - and that there was a suspicious character

seen in the area. We've got a brief description of that person,

so we'll be passing that forward to our Intelligence Department

and hopefully it will lead us to an arrest.

Unfortunately, we've not found anything identifiable

like fingerprints or footwear.

I can say that the offender's probably been wearing gloves

probably woollen gloves, because they've come through

we've seen several glove marks on various items

as I've gone through the house.

While the police are intent on catching the criminals,

I'm determined to help Amrit and Wendy in any way I can

And Wendy you've had a chance to look through now

and find out all the items that are missing,

-and there's a lot that's gone, isn't there?

-A lot.

I had a very old, very old jewellery box

that even the lid was slightly broken on it

but I kept things in there from when I was a kid.

And in there my dad had made me,

which my dad's been gone now about 20 years,

-and he made me a ring out of an old shilling.

-Oh!

And they've taken that. It's not important to them,

but it meant the world to me. It's of no value,

but why did they want THAT?

So, Amrit, those photographs obviously had a massive meaning

to you, because, they were your last memories of you and your mother.

Of course, yeah. This is the last moment

what I spend with my mother, you know.

All these photographs, all these memories,

they're all kept in my laptop, and all these memories are gone.

You know, these are things that are not important to them.

They've taken everything, haven't they, baby?

-So...

-They mean so much to you, clearly. Clearly.

-It's upset me.

-Don't be.

-I'm not surprised it upsets you, Wendy,

it's an awful thing to happen. No one has the right

to make you feel like that in your own house,

and I'm determined to sort this out.

And let's get you fixed up, let's make you feel nice and safe

and secure, and try and give you your home back.

I've been really touched by this couple

who've really been through the mill.

I'm making it my personal mission

to overhaul the security of their home,

as I can't bear the thought of them

ever having to go through another burglary.

Time to get on the phone and assemble a crack team

of local trades people, to help me fix up their house.

Hi, Gary, it's Rav. Mark, it's Rav. How are you?

Hi, is that Barry?

I'm well thank you, Faye, I'm after a bit of a favour, though.

Do you reckon you can help me out with something? I'm trying to fix up

their property and make it as safe as possible.

I want to do something nice for them on the inside and in the bedroom

particularly that was completely rifled through by the offenders.

We're looking at sort of changing the colours and just making it feel

like a different room for them, and make it feel nice for the couple

and sort of give them their home back.

Do you think you can help me with that? Lovely.

While my team of local trades people are preparing to do battle

with the security at the house,

the police are continuing to track down their stolen items.

They've sent a description of Wendy and Amrit's gold

round to local shops.

This is a tactic West Yorkshire Police regularly use

as it cuts the chain of stolen goods

and can lead to the recovery of items.

Back at the house, it's time to crack on with the security upgrade.

First person on the scene

is the Crime Prevention Specialist, Dave Harrison.

He's here to give me some expert advice.

-So, Dave, you've had a quick scout around the property...

-Yeah.

just to see what improvements we'll be able to make.

Let's start with the front.

Is there anything there we can do to strengthen that,

or just improve the security as a whole?

Yeah, I think to improve the door...

Looking at the locking system, it looks quite worn

so the handle itself needs to be replaced as well.

Also a very quick point, I see they've got a light

just on the top of the porch area there almost.

If they've got a light it's got to work really, doesn't it?

Absolutely. I mean it's there for decoration.

Obviously it does help them, because you can actually see.

It's plate glass through the door,

so you can actually see anybody who's outside, so that will help.

And then of course if they have some additional lighting

-for the vehicles when they get parked down here.

-OK.

So, if we put some lighting on the side,

-you'd like to see it really nice and high?

-Yeah.

-Well, it stops the offender from actually getting to it.

-OK.

That's the front and the side. Let's go round the back

and there's a few changes we can do there. Right

In the war against burglars, it's important to make your home look safe.

Criminals will always go for the easiest target.

OK, Dave, obviously the rear of the property now and one thing

that strikes me straight way is that really old crusty alarm box.

To me, it gives the impression it is not working

-and that's got to go, hasn't it?

-Yes, it has.

And both boxes look as if there's no maintenance going on,

-they possibly don't work.

-We can see here on the patio door there

the lock... obviously this was initially where the intruder got in.

-We've changed that.

-Yes.

-And is that to the standard you want to see?

-That's to the standard, we're happy with that.

-Good.

Through the conservatory there's the internal patio door.

Again, the intruders forced their way through that.

-Is there anything we can do to strengthen that?

-Yeah.

I think we can put some interior locking locks on there,

and also it's going to form part of the alarm system.

There's no time to waste,

we need to get straight on with the security overhaul

at Wendy and Amrit's, and the first members

of my eager team of helpers has arrived.

Chris is fitting a new top of the range alarm system,

and Ian is installing exterior motion sensor lights.

A good visible alarm is a great deterrent to scare off the thieves.

So really you put this system in to make it as hard as possible...

-Yeah.

-for any intruder to come in.

-That's correct.

-So you put contacts on the front door.

-Correct.

Now a contact, for those that don't know, is two points that meet

and when you open the door if the alarm is set,

-when that contact is broken the alarm's going to sound.

-That is correct, yes.

And you've done the same on the back door

-because you know that's where the intruder did get in.

-Yes.

So once this is locked, if someone was somehow to get in

-and to force that open, the alarm's going to sound.

-Yeah.

And if they do manage to get through that, which is highly unlikely...

-Yeah.

-we've got a second defence, which is a P-I-R.

So, that's sending invisible beams through, so if anyone was to walk in

and break that beam, the alarm would sound, and it does sound great.

The problem we have with the couple here is there was an old system installed already.

-It was too complex for them. You've thought about that.

-Yeah.

-You've got something very simple haven't you?

-Very simple.

Now, what we can do is use just a standard key fob,

-it's like what you'd use for your car.

-Mmm-hmm.

And you press a button and it's so simple.

-You've got unlock and lock.

-So, nice and easy.

And what I love is your little touch that I've noticed.

I love that. You've actually put Wendy's name on it

-so they know who's is who.

-They know who's is who.

This is fantastic. I'm sure the couple are going to be pleased

-with what you've done.

-So do we.

Outside Ian is finishing off by fitting the exterior lights

high up, so they can't be easily smashed.

But I also want to do something extra for this lovely couple

who've had such a terrible time.

It's just disgusting and it's wrong, very wrong.

And I hope they can live with themselves.

But at the end of the day I don't expect they care anyway.

Their bedroom was targeted by the burglars

and it now holds upsetting memories for Amrit and Wendy.

I want to transform it and create a new fresh space for them.

Designer Faye Butterworth is here to help.

What I want to do, as a little extra

as well as taking care of the security on the outside,

is give them a place where they can almost forget about the burglary,

-give them a fresh start and a place to relax.

-Yeah.

And I think we can do that in this bedroom.

You've got a few examples here of different schemes that you could do.

So which one, after speaking to Amrit and Wendy,

-are you going to go for?

-Well, I think after speaking to the couple

that I think the best option for them

would look at something along the lines of the chic boutique.

So, I want to give them a nice monochromatic feel to the room

-so it's nice and neutral.

-Mmm-hmm.

-With an accent colour brought in.

That way in future if they do sort of get bored with their colour,

-they can actually very easily change it.

-OK.

So that's the colour scheme. Anything else you're going to do?

Yeah. We're going to really change the furniture.

The storage is obviously somewhat of an issue in this room.

Quite minimal, isn't it? It is and we don't have matching bedside units

-Mmm-hmm.

-And we've got a bit of an issue with the TV over here.

So furniture is key in here and storage is key,

so we need to address all of those issues for Wendy and Amrit.

Yeah, it sounds fantastic.

I'm sure they're going to be really, really happy with that.

'Hopefully Faye's ideas for their bedroom will raise

'the couple's spirits.

'It's no wonder they're shaken - around 87%

'of people who've been burgled report being emotionally affected.'

It's 6.30 in the morning and Amrit and Wendy

are preparing to leave their home, so we can move in

to get cracking on the bedroom and continue overhauling their security.

-Right.

-Yeah.

-Give us a kiss. I love you.

Love you too.

Since the burglary, this dedicated couple have been through

a huge range of emotions, but now they are looking ahead.

I'm not going to let what's happened to us spoil our future,

and we're going to try and put it behind us and move on.

'I desperately want to make Amrit and Wendy's future a bright one,

'and I'm not alone.

'It's the next part of my transformation and my band

'of community-minded tradespeople are arriving,

'keen and eager to help.'

OK, ladies and gents, thanks for rushing over here so quickly.

This is Amrit and Wendy's house and recently they were burgled.

And not only was an amount of gold and computer equipment stolen,

but also the last pictures

Amrit had of himself and his late mother.

They've gone.

As you can imagine, the couple

are completely devastated by what happened,

and I need your help to change that.

What we do have is a very deserving couple that really needs your help.

What we don't have is an awful lot of time.

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

THEY CHEER

I think that might be glued that side.

179.

What might be worth doing, Steve,

if we can get just a coat of white round that, so then the electricians

can fit that light, cos it's a circular one but it's flush.

We haven't got any room for error, so I don't want anything cut.

The overhaul of the bedroom is taking shape.

Meanwhile, downstairs, the security upgrade is also picking up the pace.

It's an anti-snap lock that I'm putting in.

Basically it's got a break off point,

so if a burglar does attack the door, it'll just break off,

it's weakened, and then it'll basically shut your door down.

Faye, it looks like a different room already. You've obviously done loads of work.

Tell me what's happened so far and what's still to go.

Right. The guys have gone great guns today.

The wallpaper's all been stripped and all the paper,

the original paper that was on, was all lifted back.

-All the painting's finished now.

-Right.

Michelle at the moment is doing the soft furnishings,

she's getting on with the voile.

Michelle, what are you doing over there?

-It looks like you're hemming something.

-I am, yes.

-Yeah, what is it?

-I'm getting the length of the voile. We're trying to

get the voile, obviously, to sit on the windowsill here.

So I'm just hanging it up and pinning it

so that I can then seam it.

It's not just cos you think it looks really nice that you've put this on,

there's another reason why you've done that, isn't there?

That's right. Originally the couple had a wooden blind up,

but we obviously take that down

and we're having lovely full-length curtains on there.

But, for a security point of view,

we want some opaqueness to the window,

so this was just to avoid anybody looking in. So that's why we're going to add it.

-A bit more privacy in here.

-Absolutely, yes.

-All right, girls, I'll let you get back to it.

-Fantastic.

Loads of work to do and I'll bring you a strong coffee.

-Yes. That'd be lovely.

-Keep this one.

'While my team of local heroes are beavering away at the house,

'back at police HQ the investigation into the burglary continues.'

The property which was stolen in the burglary,

which was obviously electrical items like the laptops,

certain programmes can be installed on them - tracking software.

That's something which obviously we advise everyone who has property

of that kind of nature, to get, whether it be your iPhone or the laptops.

And then obviously it gives us a better opportunity of recovering that property.

The main focus on this is the jewellery for us.

That is something we would like to get back for Amrit and Wendy.

We appreciate it holds dear sentimental value to them.

We're hoping that as a result of the inquiries we're conducting

with the jewellery shops in and around Leeds,

that we will generate some inquiries back which may lead to some suspects.

Well, that's good to hear.

And as night falls, my troops are still hard at work.

It's quite late in the day, so we're just getting the carpet finished.

It's being laid now by Gary down there.

The next thing on the agenda is Michelle and I are going to get the bed upstairs, get that put together,

constructed and ready for the wardrobe guys in the morning,

just to pull some time back this evening to make sure that by tomorrow

we're going to be on schedule and have all the reveal done.

It's early morning and there's still lots of work to do

before Amrit and Wendy return home.

Hi, Lee. I'm just going to interrupt you. Tell me what you're doing at the moment.

A fitted wardrobe, just putting a shelf in.

The point of having a fitted wardrobe is you're going to make the most of the space,

cos obviously you haven't got a lot to work with, have you?

Yeah, this minimises the space. by the time we've got the doors in and got the mirrors on,

it'll feel like a different room altogether.

And it's not just the bedroom that's getting attention.

Perfectionist Faye has nipped downstairs to paint around where the alarm was fitted.

It's nice to be able to give back and help people out.

You know, give them something really nice

after the experience they've been through.

You know, it's just... it's good for the soul.

Upstairs the team are on the home straight

and they're just completing the finishing touches to the bedroom.

Before Amrit and Wendy return home,

Crime Prevention Officer Dave Harrison has come round

to review all of the new security measures we've put in place.

We've added a new lock to the back door, front door,

and a sensor to the sliding patio door.

A new top of the range alarm has also been fitted,

and we've added two exterior lights to discourage any would-be burglars

from sneaking around in the dark. So what's Dave's verdict?

So in conclusion, when you look at the security of the house,

before all this work was done it was really poor.

But now, it really is exceptional. Eight out of ten.

I'm delighted that Dave is happy with all that we've done

to upgrade the security at Amrit and Wendy's home.

I've got my fingers crossed they'll feel the same way too.

I'm just waiting for Amrit and Wendy to turn up and see what we've done to their house.

I'm a bit nervous, but I hope they like it.

And here they are.

-Hey, Amrit. How are you doing?

-Not bad. How are you?

Oh, I'm good, I'm good. Good to see you both.

-How are you doing? Are you all right?

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-Hi Wendy. How are you?

-I'm good, thank you.

-Are you nervous?

-A little bit, yeah!

-Oh! Come here. Good to see you.

-And you too darling.

Wah! Right. What we've done to your house

is make it as secure as we possibly can, because we do not want any hint of a second offence to come back.

We just don't want any offenders to try and get into your home, so it's nice and safe now.

We've got on the front door there a brand-new lock, that is

-the strongest we can possibly get.

-Yeah.

There is absolutely no way anyone will be able to snap it out

like they did before, and get in.

-Now, in addition to that really strong door lock...

-Yeah.

-..we've gone one step further than that.

-OK.

So if you just let me whiz in front of you. Come with me.

-Just look up.

-Wow!

-See there?

-Oh, wow! Yeah. My goodness.

-A brand-new burglar alarm system we've put in.

-Fantastic.

So you're... And yeah, you've seen it,

-we've got a light as well.

-Brilliant.

That's got a little sensor on the light,

-so if anyone was to walk through, in darkness...

-Yeah.

-..it would illuminate.

-Fantastic.

And it just gives that impression that this place is protected.

-Absolutely.

-If anyone was to walk past and see that,

they'll think, hey, hands off.

Absolutely fantastic. That is absolutely fantastic, it's brilliant.

OK, obviously the rear of your house now,

-and if you just look up for me, right at the top.

-Oh, look.

Oh, yeah, fantastic. Brilliant.

Another light. On the night of the offence,

-this is how they got in, wasn't it?

-Yes.

Through your back conservatory door

-and then via your patio door on the inside.

-Yes.

So that lock has been changed for the super strong one

-that you've now got at the front as well.

-Yes.

Also, on the doors, we've put what they call contacts.

We've also got the sensors on the inside -

should anyone go in through a window,

-it will set the alarm off as well.

-Brilliant.

-You've got all-round security.

-Absolutely brilliant. Fantastic.

-It's great.

-These are all the security items that we've fitted

to your property, so it is much, much safer now.

But we wanted to do a little extra for you.

So on the inside, there's something that we've done

-upstairs in your bedroom.

-Oh!

-Oh, really? OK.

-Would you like to have a look?

-Yes. Absolutely.

-Of course, yes.

'I'm hoping they'll be as delighted with what we've done upstairs

'as they are with the new security measures.

'This devoted couple's bedroom has become the room they now associate

'with uninvited burglars rifling through their belongings.

'But we wanted to give them a new start.

'We've updated their bedroom with a fresh contemporary theme

'that will hopefully remove the bad memories.'

-You might notice a few changes.

-Oh, my God!

-You may notice a few changes in your bedroom.

-Oh, my... Oh, my God.

-That's amazing.

-It's so beautiful, it's so beautiful.

-That is amazing.

-Oh, my God.

Oh, my God, that's... Look at that. That is stunning.

-Look at that.

-Oh, God.

-Oh, my God, it's so nice.

Do you like the pictures?

-Oh, yes, I love... my mum is there.

-Yeah.

Oh, it's so nice, it's so beautiful!

We knew that you'd lost all those pictures of your mum.

-And that's one that our crew found.

-That is so lovely.

And she repaired it.

It was torn and she blew it up because she knew how much it meant

-to you when you lost the pictures of your mum.

-Thank you very much,

that's really touched my heart. Oh, God, it's lovely.

-It's very nice.

-It's absolutely gorgeous. It's absolutely gorgeous.

-Look at the light there.

-Oh, my God. Oh, God!

I can't believe it. How can you make a room look like this?

It's just stunning.

I can't believe it could look like this.

-It's beautiful, isn't it?

-It is. Very nice.

-It's so lovely. It's so lovely.

-Oh, yes. Lovely.

-Thank you so much.

-Oh, my pleasure.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, darling.

-My pleasure. Least we could do.

God. Thank you.

You know an awful lot happened in here.

There's loads of work that's taken place in just a short space of time.

I know, there's so much.

The reason that's happened is because there's so many people

that heard what happened to you, and rushed around to help.

-That's amazing. We're stunned.

-And they're here

-in your front garden.

-Oh, my God.

Really? Are they?

I know they'd like to see you and say hello.

-Of course. We want to see them.

-Absolutely, and thank them so much.

-I'm sure you'd like to see them.

-Of course.

-Thank you so much.

-From the bottom of my heart, it's absolutely gorgeous.

-It is.

It's so... It's absolutely stunning.

Now, obviously there's a lot of people that made it possible

to transform your house like that. So come on out, come on out, Amrit.

Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much, everybody,

it's amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you. It's gorgeous.

I'm glad you love it.

Wow! What a reaction.

It just goes to show that with some goodwill

and an awful lot of elbow grease, you can genuinely turn those tears

of sadness into those tears of joy

'I'm so happy that we've been able to help Amrit and Wendy.

'And the police - well, they haven't given up,

'and are still on the hunt for the criminals.'

It's great on such a cold day that the community

and these tradespeople have come out to help in relation to the burglary

that's occurred, and I can reassure everyone that West Yorkshire Police

are absolutely committed to driving down burglary offences.

It's very intrusive, it's very personal,

it affects people in different ways. But together I think we can crack it.

-Give yourselves a round of applause. Well done.

-Absolutely. 100%.

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