Episode 17 Robbed, Raided, Reunited

Police!

Teams of police are fighting a rise in burglaries across the UK.

-Timberlands have gone.

-Oh!

-Oh, for God's sake!

The people that do this are professionals. This is what they do for a living.

Delta 600.

Specialist units working with the latest technology

and the community-minded among us...

I just wondered if you were around, if you had anything?

..to track down the thieves...

Hold it right there, stop!

..and make sure they are held to account.

It's not just our expensive gadgets being taken from us.

They just went in, took what they could and went.

It's our cherished heirlooms too.

The that upset me most was the loss of my mother's engagement ring.

It's going to take a while to just get used to what has happened and get over it.

Items that mean the world to us.

I still get very upset over it. I do, really.

But police officers love nothing more than to recover these prized possessions...

They can confirm it is their sat-nav, so, result.

..and return them to us.

I didn't expect to see it again.

To get those items back to people is really fantastic.

I think the owners might be crying in happy tears.

The police are amazing. I am forever indebted to them.

This is Robbed...

Raided... Reunited.

Thanks very much.

I never thought I'd see this again.

I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Coming up...

The police are determined to catch the thieves who looted a family's new home.

The biggest thing is that somebody has been in my house.

Someone has been in my bedroom, someone has been through my house, ransacking.

The Surrey Police helicopter traps two suspicious men making a run for it.

And a raid on a wanted burglar uncovers an unlikely tool of the trade.

They put it through the letterbox and they'll grab the keys.

It's 12.30pm at Staines Police Station.

Detective Constable Dion O'Shea and learner DC Sonya Hudson of Staines CID's anti-burglary team

have received an urgent call.

They're on their way to a burglary reported in a nearby village.

The occupant of the house left this morning at 8.30,

and he's returned home at 12.10,

and found the premises had been entered into.

So what we need to do is we need to see what's been stolen and find out what we need to do forensics wise.

This quiet, secluded area, four miles from the town centre,

is an unusual destination for Staines CID.

It's very, very rural as you can see.

The likelihood of us having anybody that's witnessed this

or any CCTV opportunities are probably fairly low.

There we go.

Anne Griffiths is waiting outside.

We've just called the locksmith as we didn't know how he's got into the house.

-We want to make it secure as quickly as possible.

-Yes, I understand.

Anne had a suspicious encounter with a man three days earlier.

She's now wondering if this was significant.

-OK.

-We were getting rid of the cooker, someone stopped in their van and said,

"Oh, we'll take that away." He asked us what work we were doing on the house,

-he was quite a young guy, in his 20s.

-OK.

This is the first day the house has been empty since then.

The burglars may have staked out the house,

waiting for the chance to strike.

The police need to determine how the thief or thieves got in.

Anne's son Matt was first on the scene.

Who discovered the burglary?

-That's me. I came home and noticed the TV was missing.

-Right, OK.

-They just kicked the lock in for some reason.

-Oh, OK.

DC O'Shea examines the front door for signs of damage.

Basically, they used a screwdriver. They've got some marks here.

They've used it, literally, to get the screwdriver in and pop open the door.

It's just popped open.

Inside, the back door also appears damaged.

-Right, OK.

-Did you say something was broken?

-The key. And the lock.

All right, yeah, I see.

That'll be to stop anybody getting in while they're here.

-OK, where was...? The items that have been taken, where were they?

-TV over there.

I mean, I've only been home about 20 minutes, sort of looking through.

Did you say you had cash in this property?

-There was cash upstairs in the bedroom.

-Is that gone?

-Yeah.

It's becoming clear just how much was taken.

The police must check what's missing from each room of the house.

Yeah, they broke that. They kind of shoved things in this room.

-Erm, so the laptop was in there.

-OK.

-These were out, in there as well.

Was the cash...? It was in here, was it? It was with the laptop?

The thieves have left the family's home in a state of disarray.

They've also searched the sons' bedrooms,

but as far as we can see at the moment, they can't see anything has been stolen.

But, as you can see, they have pulled everything out the wardrobes and just discarded it.

So far, two TVs, three laptops

and a large amount of cash have been confirmed missing.

The family only moved into the house two weeks ago.

For me, the biggest thing is that someone has been in my house.

It's not so much the possessions they've taken, because they can be replaced.

It's really the sort of personal invasion.

Someone's been in my bedroom, someone has been through my house, ransacking.

And that is really what I think I am going to find upsetting,

and the security for my house.

Don't know. I feel very vulnerable. So, yeah, range of emotions,

and now it's coming out as a bit upset.

It's an hour since the emergency call came in.

A forensics officer arrives to examine the house for prints and DNA.

Anne's partner Gary Whitmarsh arrives to find his new home has been robbed and ransacked.

We've not long been here. As you can see, we're sort of in the process of unpacking still, had work going on.

You know, electrical, plumbing, all sorts of...

We haven't really had a chance to settle in, but it's very unnerving

that you've only just arrived somewhere and you're immediately broken into.

And while surveying the damage, Gary discovers items of huge personal value are missing.

There was a little pink case which was my mother's.

My mother passed away and some of her jewellery...

And also some letters from my grandmother to her in there as well, so that was all in the...

And has that gone, that little pink...?

-Yeah, it is the whole laptop.

-Oh, it was all together? OK.

It was all in the bag, and also my wallet.

These letters and jewellery were irreplaceable family heirlooms.

Jewellery is money, it's expensive,

and it's personal things behind it, because you know if it's an engagement ring

passed down through the family, you're never going to replace those if you don't see them again.

For me, the writings are just as important as the jewellery,

because, you know, it's handwritten. It is very personal, you know.

So, yeah, I'll be very sad not to have those,

because I've kept them for the reasons that you want to pass them on through generations.

If they can be found that would be brilliant,

and it would be lovely to get them all back, but who knows. I don't know how it works.

The first eight hours following a burglary represent the best window of opportunity for the police

to catch those responsible.

To stand any chance of recovering the family's possessions,

the team needs to establish some solid leads.

The forensic officer continues to go through each room searching for clues.

PC Emma Nuttall is on hand to take a statement from Anne.

-What did you think was there? How much, roughly?

-Roughly

-BLEEP.

I'm starting to feel quite angry.

If I got hold of them... Quite a few expletives came out earlier.

Despite their efforts, there is little to go on for the police.

But one dramatic discovery could change the course of the entire investigation.

Basically, there's been an alien object left at the property.

It doesn't belong to anybody that lives here and it's a mobile phone.

It's an incredible find.

And the screensaver is a picture.

The picture on the phone is of a local man already known to the police.

Obviously, we are very keen to speak to him, why his phone is in this address.

They suspect this is the same man Anne saw outside their home three days ago.

And you can have a look for it there.

40362 to Sergeant Parry, Staines CID.

And when PC Nuttall runs a check on the man,

they get another remarkable break in the case.

There's currently a warrant on the address. Officers are there now,

so we're just time to get hold of the officers who are there so we can possibly

add our enquiries to their enquiries.

It just so happens another police unit were doing a warrant

at the address of the person we think this phone belongs to.

They weren't doing a warrant for this incident,

it was just a coincidence they were there at the time.

But can the police capitalise?

While PC Nuttall stays in contact with the warrant team at the man's address,

the phone is analysed for forensic evidence further linking the suspect to the crime scene.

An update comes through.

RADIO: 'At that address but they're not here.'

The man is not at home.

It's a setback but DC O'Shea remains confident.

I'd be quite hopeful at the moment

because of the phone and we've got a named suspect,

so, OK, we've been round the address and he's not there at the moment

but attempts will be continue to be made,

and hopefully if we can get him soon.

If it's him, we may be able recover some of the property.

The team make another discovery that may help match

the suspect to the scene.

There's no post been delivered to the family today

and nobody's brought that in.

But it's been found on the coffee table in the lounge.

It would seem to be a footprint, a partial trainer mark

or, you know, shoe mark on there.

The forensic officer uses electrostatic lifting

to draw out the full shoe print,

which may not be visible to the naked eye.

By passing an electric charge through the foil,

the shoe print is transferred off the envelope

onto the back of the foil, ready for analysis.

-Let's see.

-Bit at the end, yeah.

You've actually got in the dust the whole rest of the footprint.

With the phone and footprint as evidence,

Staines CID are determined to solve this case -

especially having seen first-hand the emotional trauma

this family is having to deal with.

It's going to take a while to just get used to what's happened

and get over it.

It's a new house. We've only just moved in.

It's taken off the gloss of moving in and having your own property,

having your own house. Not good.

It's not nice for anybody to come home

and know that that's all happened,

because everybody is sad, everybody is unhappy.

You're all thinking similar things along the same lines - why us?

Um, why can't people just go out and work like we do?

Why do they have to rely on stealing other people's property,

and causing damage in many instances,

um, when it's, you know,

it's not the way we should be living in this world.

Later in the programme, the police make a breakthrough

in the search for Gary and Ann's stolen property.

I must say that this is part of the job that means so much

is to give this property back to these people.

And the couple is reunited with some cherished family items.

Some pictures of my mum and dad and sister. It's nice to have the memories back.

Across the country, police are taking the fight to burglars.

For Surrey police,

helicopter surveillance is a powerful tool at their disposal.

Its hi-tech infra-red camera

means there's nowhere to hide for the criminals.

11.30pm. A vigilant neighbour

raises the alarm of a burglary in progress at a Guildford family home.

Before police officers reach the house,

the thieves escape, taking with them several expensive items.

These criminals hadn't reckoned on the South East Air Support Unit

responding to the call.

DC James West of Guildford CID takes us through what happened next.

You can see them coming into shot where the camera picks them up straight away.

And they're walking away about 30 yards

from the property that was broken into.

What you'll see next is the officer coming round the corner

and the two persons run away from the officer.

He calls out to them that he's a police officer

and for them to stop and they run from the officer.

They split around this block of flats

and the officer is obviously chasing them

but the helicopter has them in his sights.

One of them has ducked down behind what's probably a fence or a wall.

Here is where the officer comes round the corner

and the first man is arrested.

The camera from the helicopter then stays with the second male.

He's walking up this road, he's been followed all the way

from what we would call the attack premises.

With the eye in the sky directing the officers on the ground,

there was no getting away for this man.

Moments later, he was apprehended.

It seemed two more burglars would be off the streets.

However, as no stolen goods were found on either man,

both were released.

Now, crucial new evidence has emerged,

linking one of the men to the crime scene.

CID detective Russell Cannon

is briefing his team at Guildford police station.

They're gearing up for an early-morning raid on the suspect's Surrey home.

The outstanding property is a laptop, white iPod,

a Verbatim external hard drive, Fuji camera,

um, and a set of books.

The team have a warrant to arrest the suspect

and search his home for the stolen goods.

Any questions?

It's 7.50am.

DC James West is leading this morning's operation.

The address is 12 minutes away on a quiet residential street.

As it's early morning, for the neighbours' sake,

the police try a low-key approach to getting in.

The other two raid officers are positioned at the back of the house,

cutting off the suspect's escape route.

There's no answer at the door at the moment

so we're going to force entry.

We've got a warrant to gain entry.

It's the police. Last chance, else we'll be forcing the door.

Come to the door now, please.

Ah, at last.

The occupants of the house have decided opening the door is the better option.

The raid team make the arrest.

The burglary took place...

You've obviously been arrested before for that offence. All right?

-Yeah.

-Something else has come to light as part of the investigation,

so therefore you are being further arrested for that offence.

He's remarkably calm for a man being arrested in his own bed.

Can you shut the door, please?

Can you pull the front door to a minute?

The arrest has been made with a minimum of fuss.

Now the team can concentrate on the search for stolen items.

15 minutes later, they find something of interest.

-Again.

-Yeah, I'll do that if you want.

DC West is suspicious about the origin of a silver necklace found in a wardrobe.

He phones the station to check it out.

They've recovered a necklace off the female here.

She says she can account for where it came from. it's in a small bag.

Um, it's, er, heart shaped with flowers on the front.

Silver.

Describing jewellery over the phone isn't easy.

Luckily, DC West has another tool at the modern policeman's disposal -

his phone.

I mean, that's really the first time I've done that,

sending it from my phone, cos that's my personal phone, sending a picture.

But with the technology we have today it's a much easier way

of sending it through to the guy in the office

who's going to do some checks.

An unorthodox approach.

But five minutes later, an officer at the station calls back

with a possible match - to an item stolen during another burglary.

He's found on our system a similar...item

that possibly could have come from a burglary in the Woking area.

So we'll be seizing that.

We won't arrest anyone for that at the moment just because

we need to really prove that that's come from a burglary first.

But we'll be taking that with us.

With one suspicious item in the bag,

the team soon makes another interesting discovery.

We found this in the cupboard in the address.

Now, this just collects litter.

But it can also be used, and is used, as an implement by burglars.

They put it through the letter box.

And they'll grab the keys if they're on the other side of the door

and, obviously, then they can gain entry to people's addresses.

So it is a tool that burglars do use and a way of getting into addresses.

Obviously, there may be a legitimate reason

and he may just like going around collecting litter.

To counter this threat,

police advise us never to leave our house keys in locks

and to keep all car and door keys out of sight

and reach from the letter box.

The suspect is keeping quiet.

He seems to be no stranger to police procedure.

He's fairly relaxed. He's been arrested many times for similar offences.

He's used to the searches that are being conducted at the moment.

No items stolen from the burglary are found at the man's home.

But with their prime suspect safely back in custody,

it's been a productive morning for the team.

Repeat offenders already known to the police are responsible

for a large proportion of all burglaries committed each year.

This man has many previous convictions

and will be questioned at length back at the station.

Earlier on Robbed, Raided, Reunited,

we saw the shocking aftermath of a daring daylight burglary.

Gary and Anne's family home had been robbed

just two weeks after they moved in.

I think, to me, the biggest thing is that somebody's been in my house,

someone's been in my bedroom,

someone's been throughout my house, ransacking.

The thieves got away with

several expensive items and also a large quantity of cash.

What did you think was there? How much?

-I would...

-BLEEP.

The burglars also took Gary's precious collection

of family letters and photographs.

I'll be very sad not to have those

because I've kept them for the reasons that you want to pass them on through generations.

But the criminals made a crucial mistake.

They left a mobile phone at the crime scene

containing a picture leading the police straight to a suspect.

Hopefully, if we can get him soon, if it's him,

we may be able to recover some of the property.

It's now a week later.

Detective Constable Dion O'Shea and Learner DC Sonya Hudson

have made two arrests, including the owner of the phone.

No trace of the stolen items has yet been found

and it looks unlikely Gary will see his family mementoes again.

But some items have been found outside a retirement home,

which may be linked to the burglary.

This property has been returned to us

by a member of a the public.

We believe that these items belong to the burglary

where the mobile phone was left.

The family need to come in and just identify the items

as belonging to them,

and, hopefully, we can bring some closure and hand the items back.

I must say that this is part of the job that means so much

is to give property back to people.

Because it means an awful lot to them.

-Hi. I'm from CID.

-Hi. I'm Gary.

-I don't know if you remember. I was at the house the first time you reported it.

-Yeah.

-Do you want to come through?

-OK, thank you.

-Have a look at some property.

Some of the discarded property has suffered water damage.

Let's go through all this property

and hopefully there'll be things in here that belong to yourselves,

and... But we'll just go through them one at a time.

Right, um...

-Yeah, that's my dad's letter opener from years gone by.

-OK.

So quite sentimental for you.

Yeah, it is. I think it was given to him by my grandfather.

So yeah. It's nice to have something back.

Amongst these recovered items are some of Gary's most treasured possessions.

You've also got pictures of my mum and dad and sister.

That's the important things.

My sister, my father and my mother have all passed away

so that's really important to me.

OK. That's really good that you've got these back.

There are some important receipts the couple need to present

to their insurance company.

-That's the Apple...

-Yeah.

-..receipt.

That's quite good. Again, that will help you, won't it?

I know it's not having your items returned but that will perhaps make it a little easier

whilst you're dealing with insurance and things.

Despite being left undiscovered outside overnight,

one of Gary's cherished letters has survived unscathed.

You can just imagine them going through this and slinging things...

Yeah.

That's very nice to get back.

-26.4.1954.

-Wow.

When my mother was 21. This is from my aunt to my mother.

"Today you are 21. At last my baby sister becomes a woman.

"What a pleasure it has been to have you for 21 years,

"not only as a sister, but as a pal,

"and someone to share my joys and sorrows with.

"We have always shared what we have had and been glad to."

HE SOBS

"There is no greed, selfishness or jealousy in our relationship,

"and I do thank you sincerely for that.

"I only have one sister but, believe me,

"I would rather just have the one like you than have five or six.

"If you need any help and are in any trouble,

"I will always be there ready to stand by you and help you.

"For there is always a corner in my heart reserved just for you.

"God bless you always. Your loving sister Joyce."

Expensive things, nice that they are,

but sometimes it's the personal ones that have been passed on through generations.

So for me to carry my grandmother's letter around and still have it,

and I can pass it on for generations

and pass these things through to family members.

That's what you want, so people remember these things.

So it's nice to have the memories back.

The suspect arrested in the police raid

was charged with handling stolen goods.

He pleased guilty and was given a custodial sentence.

POLICE RADIO CRACKLING

The juvenile pleaded guilty to burglary

and was given a fine and a curfew.

For Guildford Police, it's a satisfying result.

The necklace seized at the house turned out not to be stolen.

It was later returned.

The search for the missing goods will continue.

Neither the footprint nor the phone found at the family burglary

could provide conclusive evidence against the two men arrested.

As a result, neither was charged with the offence.

However, one of these men was subsequently remanded in custody

and charged with two other cases of burglary.

Reuniting Gary and Anne with some of their most valued possessions

is a gratifying outcome for the police.

'They've got items back they could never replace.

'If it can help them in any way'

for them to be more confident or sleep easier at night,

then it's all for the good, isn't it?

We're really grateful to get these things back, really pleased.

Bearing in mind this is a burglary

and there's lots more important things in the world going on,

and you do feel sometimes that they do care.

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