Episode 3 Robbed, Raided, Reunited

that affects 1.5 million of us every year.

Burglary.

Coming up...

-Having someone come in your house is very upsetting.

-Yeah.

We're with the police in the pursuit of justice

as they carry out their raids.

Police officers - open the door!

And we'll see the joy when what's been stolen

has been returned to its rightful owner.

It was the most amazing feeling ever. Yeah. Fantastic!

First up, we're in Yorkshire.

It's 9am, PC Phill Connell

and a team of five officers are on the way to raid a flat,

after receiving an anonymous tip-off.

We're going to an address just short of Rotherham Police Station,

in the Masbrough area.

We've got a warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act,

to search a premises there.

Someone whose intelligence has been received

is dealing drugs in the local area.

Phill's dad was also a police constable,

so he grew up wanting to follow in his footsteps.

He's been in the police himself for 23 years

so today's mission is all too familiar.

People are subject to burglaries.

Their property, a lot of the time, ends up in these people's hands

as payment for the drugs

because they've not got cash. And you can end up with a circle

where people are obviously committing crime to fund a drugs habit.

And in order to fund that, they're selling these items on.

We're here.

The element of surprise is crucial because Phill and the team

don't want the suspect to know they're coming.

You've got warrants, haven't you?

One team cover the back of the building,

whilst DC Phil Wyer breaks down the door.

LOUD BANGING

Whilst Phill is attempting to get into the house, the suspect

hears all the noise and comes to the door.

Open it up then!

Quickly or it's going in.

Police officers with a drugs warrant. Open the door!

-They'll take all day, these.

-Yeah.

-FROM INSIDE:

-Don't smash it in.

Open the door then, now.

-Have you got a key?

-I'll open the door.

-Go on then.

Open it then, and we'll stop hitting it.

-FROM INSIDE:

-Open the door, open the door.

The suspect tries to open the door from the inside but has no luck.

Pass us the key.

It's locked now. We're going to have to bash it in regardless.

Who's in there with you?

-Me and my girlfriend.

-Right.

Come to the kitchen window and put the blind up

so we can see you standing there while we put the door in,

because we have no option now.

The lock has seized,

so Phill has to enter the flat through the kitchen window.

No, the lock's gone.

-FROM INSIDE:

-You've probably smashed the lock and it's stuck.

We'll have to use the window, Phil.

Right, we're in possession of a drugs warrant, matey, all right?

With no joy opening the front door,

the whole team have no choice but to enter through the window too.

With the suspect detained,

the search for stolen property and drugs begins.

Phill believes the suspect has tried to flush evidence down the toilet,

whilst the team were trying to gain entry.

I need to get my hand down this bog, it's blocked.

He's tried to tip a load of stuff down.

I need a rubber glove to get my hand down the toilet.

As the team continue their search and uncover evidence of drug use,

Phill is left with the unpleasant task

of establishing exactly what is down the toilet.

Having been with the Underwater Search Unit for 10 years,

Phill is used to recovering items

from places like sewage tanks and drains.

But this doesn't make the job any more pleasant.

-Not a nice part of the job, Phill.

-No, not nice at all.

As you can see, it's blocked for some reason or another.

We'll go outside and see if there's a manhole.

Get it, have a look and see what's down there.

Whilst Phill's day has taken a turn for the worst,

DS John Dimberline has uncovered something of interest.

We've had some intel that property's been stolen

and has been brought here, potentially handling stolen goods.

What we've done is

we've done a search and found an identical jacket.

It's down to the complainant now to see if he can identify it.

Former hairdresser Phill will not be defeated by the blockage.

I'm going to try and clear this blockage, yeah?

Right, it's gone. It's obvious on us getting in,

because he's had time to get into the toilet,

there's been drugs paraphernalia tipped down the toilet.

On getting in, the toilet's actually blocked with it,

so it's not managed to get flushed.

So we've lifted a drain outside, a drain cover,

capped that off so nothing can go anywhere

and cleared the blockage here.

So whatever's been blocking the toilet

should be dammed outside now that's come from here.

Phill has to examine the contents of the manhole

for any evidence the suspect might have tried to flush away.

No, negative.

TAPS STICK

Worth a try.

-I'll do away with the dam then.

-Here.

All for nothing. But if you don't try you don't get.

Because they've had such a good tip-off,

Phill and the team are determined to leave no stone unturned.

And soon their hard work pays off.

It's a wrap of something.

I don't want to undo it because it's obviously going to go there.

That's just under this kick plinth under here.

There's a kick plinth under the cupboard here.

It seemed a bit loose, pulled it,

it's come off and there's all this paraphernalia underneath

and various other little wraps of powder

which we suspect could be illegal drugs.

Getting all the good jobs today(!)

Did you say something wrong?

I think I must have done something wrong this morning.

Put my hand under a cupboard and down a toilet!

The team is on the lookout for some specific items which were

stolen from a nearby church, including a stereo system.

And John thinks he might have spotted it.

-You know the Sony stereo that we've got.

-Yeah.

-Is that one from the church as well or is it from a different job?

-Yeah.

-So the Sony's from the church.

-Yeah.

It's been stipulated as a Sony system like that,

and it's actually come out of a cabinet in the church.

Looking at that one, it's got an after market still...

sort of banding round it.

It's not like something you would get at home.

It's inside something that looks like it's been made to go in a cabinet.

With that in mind, I think it needs to come in.

We need to get it checked out.

Also during the break in at the church,

some raffle prizes were stolen, including some alcohol.

We're hoping it's...

We might have information that's come from another job

where this raffle prize has been taken,

so we're hoping it might be from there.

It's just an unusual tipple to have four bottles of port in your kitchen.

We've got four weeks to Christmas, so it's a bit early for port.

One of them's undone, love. Cork's in it but try and keep them upright.

With the search complete,

the suspect will now be taken back to the station for questioning.

Can I just shut my blinds an' that, cos I don't want it open?

Can you shut blinds and windows, please?

Cos young 'uns look through window

and the telly'll be gone before I get back.

-Aye, some thieves about.

-It is on this estate.

Phill, John and the team have seized property that could be stolen -

class A and B drugs, and drugs paraphernalia.

It will all be taken back to Maltby Police Station to be processed

and checked against police records.

There's a lot of evidence to go through,

but one thing's clear, PC Phill Connell took one for the team today.

That was quite an exceptional circumstance and there's not

many people would resort to the lengths that Phill went to.

But he's trained in body recovery

and he's obviously encountered worse scenarios that that, unbelievably.

But we were all cringing.

I think out of the people that were present,

Phill's the only one that would probably be willing

to go to those lengths and do what he did.

Everybody kept their distance from him for the rest of the day!

It's not just police that go the extra mile

to try and track down our stolen property.

People also go to extraordinary lengths

to get back their treasured possessions,

especially when it's the family pet.

This is Edenbridge in Kent.

Lorraine Deakins lives with her husband, their two children,

Ellen, who's nine and Henry, who's six and their dog, Lily,

a cavalier King Charles spaniel and the fifth member of their family.

DOG BARKS

She's very fluffy and licky!

Cavaliers are generally just really lovely, really gentle dogs.

She was perfect with the children.

In June 2010, the Deakins were busy at home.

It was just one day before Lily's first birthday.

I was gardening in the front garden

and she was literally up at the window watching me.

I needed to go to the garden centre, so I went in to get her and she...

she'd just vanished.

Lorraine began to worry.

Lily! Lily!

Lily!

I searched all round the garden, all round next door's garden.

All in the house.

Lily was nowhere to be seen.

It was becoming clear that someone else had been in the garden.

I think they may have come in from over that way.

She couldn't jump out but someone could easily reach in and take her.

We didn't think she'd just run off

because I was literally in the front garden.

If she'd run away, I would have seen her run past.

So it was quite obvious that she'd been taken from the back garden.

Lily had been stolen.

Immediately, Lorraine contacted the authorities.

Lily had been microchipped as a puppy, so if she was found,

she could easily be identified.

By law, if someone finds a dog they've got to ring the dog warden,

so I rang the dog warden.

Because it was a Friday evening, there was no out-of-hours number,

so I had to leave a message.

And then literally we all just split up and went out searching

till late at night, but there was nothing.

It felt like a real personal attack.

Unless you're a dog lover, an animal lover,

you never know how bad it is until it happens.

With Lily gone, Lorraine was left

with the heartbreaking challenge of telling her children.

When the children found out that Lily had gone, they were devastated.

When Lily left, we cried

because we missed her and it was really sad and horrible.

As far as they're concerned,

they know that people shouldn't take other people's things,

and as soon as Lily had gone...

Just inconsolable the whole time, basically.

Even though it seemed there was little hope of finding Lily,

Lorraine refused to give up.

I'd promised the kids that I would get her back,

so I couldn't break that promise.

She contacted charities specialising in finding missing dogs

and created an internet campaign

to raise public awareness of their missing pet.

My mum made a video, and it was really sad,

so people would help her to find Lily.

The video was posted on a popular website

and received over 7,000 views.

The internet is proving a valuable tool to help find missing

and stolen animals.

But no-one came forward with any information.

Six months passed and Lily still hadn't been found.

The Christmas after Lily went missing, Henry, who's three,

put Lily on his list to Santa.

And when he came down Christmas morning,

trying to explain to a three-year-old

why his dog wasn't back...

Sorry.

SHE SOBS

It was devastating.

He came down in the morning and said, "Mummy, why isn't Lily back?

"Does Father Christmas think I've been bad?"

SHE SNIFFS

Yeah, there's nothing you can say to that.

I just said that maybe Father Christmas just couldn't find her

because she was hiding so well.

A heartbreaking story, but there is a glimmer of hope.

Next, to Hertfordshire, where there has been a spate of burglaries

targeting jewellery and precious metal.

Barry and Theresa Cohen had been enjoying some winter sun

in Thailand and arrived back to England to a nasty shock.

Our son picked us up and brought all the cases in.

My wife looked in the bedroom

and realised that the place had been ransacked.

We slowly went round the house and found everything.

Uniformed officers have already visited and secured the home.

DC Paul Wadsworth from St Albans

arrives to continue the investigation.

Paul's been in the police for seven years

and joined St Albans CID a year ago.

-Sorry, I thought...

-Mrs Cohen, hello.

I'm Paul. I'm from St Albans Police Station. How are you?

Sorry, I'm in a totally different time zone,

-so I've literally only had two hours' sleep.

-Right.

Can you show me around where you think they've come in

-and the rooms that they've been into?

-Right.

Paul conducts a thorough search of the home,

whilst a scenes of crime officer collects crucial forensic evidence.

Any small clue could crack the case.

They forced this window open.

When it is open, even you wouldn't have been able to get through it.

They took four watches of mine, none of which totalled probably

more than 500 quid for the four of them, if that.

I've got a good watch which is a diamond faced watch,

they never took that.

They've left that thinking it's obviously not a good one

but that was the good one.

They took my silver candlesticks.

-They're heirlooms, aren't they?

-Yes.

In their quest for precious metal,

the burglars have stolen some irreplaceable family treasures.

That's me and my husband and my mother, who's now deceased.

The silver candlesticks, I bought for my mother and father

for their 25th wedding anniversary.

I'd not long started work, so it was the first thing

that I'd actually bought from a pay packet.

When my mother died, I inherited them back from her

and she's been dead now for six years,

so they were quite precious to me.

She was a lovely lady, very lovely lady. Loved by all her family.

Even though they've gone through the whole house,

the thieves seem to have left behind an obvious item of value.

My handbag was downstairs all zipped up and they've bought it up here

and unloaded everything up here but they've left everything in it.

That was my first thought, that my credit card had gone.

-You don't want to lose your M&S card.

-Shut up!

Having established what the thieves have taken,

Paul now needs to work out how they got into the back garden.

The infrared light sensor switch has been tampered with,

so it's no longer working,

which suggests it's happened overnight, because why would

you want to tamper with a security light if it was daytime?

It would appear that they've gained access from this garden.

The fence, the top slat has been torn off from somebody climbing

over the top.

But, the jemmy mark here where the PVC has been targeted,

they've got some sort of tool to jemmy open this window,

used the chair and then climbed in onto the windowsill.

They've left a trainer mark which our forensic people have lifted

and there's some glove marks which have also been lifted from the frame.

There aren't any fingerprints, unfortunately,

because they were wearing gloves but we've got a trainer print

which we can compare with people that have brought into custody.

For Paul, this could prove to be a vital clue.

They've come into here, through the window, obviously,

and they've gone to the cabinet, they've opened the cabinets up

and taken property, candlesticks, from the display cabinet there.

It suggests that the jewellery

and metals - precious metals - have been their target.

It seems the Cohens' burglary

fits the recent pattern where thieves target

jewellery and precious metals that are easy to sell on.

Paul gives Barry and Theresa some sound advice

that might help to trace their missing heirlooms.

What would be a good idea is to look at websites just to see

if somebody is trying to sell them, because, obviously,

you know what they look like, you'll see them instantly.

We'll do the same.

I was amazed that they didn't take the portable tellys.

If they're on foot, then, you know, it's a big bulky thing,

somebody walking out with a telly is a bit more noticeable

than somebody with pockets full of jewellery.

Paul knows first-hand the emotional impact a burglary can have

on victims like Barry and Theresa.

At the end of the day, somebody has invaded their home.

It's where they live, it's where all their family come,

so it is an invasion.

It's one of the worst crimes that you can be a victim of,

to be perfectly honest.

Having someone come in your house is very upsetting.

It's quite frightening

because although it is a very quiet road, it's also quite dark

round here of a night, so now it's quite nerve-racking.

They've lived here for 15 years

and it's the first time they've been a victim of burglary

whilst they've been living at this address, so it isn't very common.

It's trying to reassure people that, a, it's not very common

and to reassure them that the police take this matter very seriously,

as we do in Hertfordshire.

With his investigation of the Cohens' house complete,

Paul heads next door.

-Hello, is it Alan?

-It is.

Hello, my name is Paul,

I'm a detective from St Albans police station.

-Are you aware your neighbours have been burgled?

-What, next door?

-Next door.

-Oh, no.

We think they might have come in from your garden.

It looks to me... You've got some fencing that's been damaged,

so I'm guessing they've probably scaled your gate

and popped into your back garden and then jumped over the other side.

It's very unsettling to think that people can get in

and around your property at any time.

Definitely will consider myself the lucky one,

whereas my neighbours,

unfortunately, have been the unlucky ones.

Even though the burglary is very distressing,

Barry and Theresa are still managing

to look on the bright side.

We've just found something else that they've taken.

Two old fishing reels. They're gone. I mean...

It's just incredible, the things that they've actually taken

and the things that they've left.

The value of those items probably comes to about ten quid, maybe.

THERESA LAUGHS

Earlier, we saw how devastated the Deakins family were,

when their dog Lily was stolen from their home in 2010.

The worst thing about her missing the whole time was the not knowing,

and I think that's the worst thing for all owners of lost dogs.

Almost two years had passed and there was still no news of Lily.

I was digging down on my allotment and my husband called me

and he said, "I need to come and talk to you,"

and I thought something awful had happened.

He came down and he sent the kids off to play and he said,

"I've just had a call from the dog warden.

"They've found Lily."

But the story was far from over.

Well, originally, she was found by a builder on a building site

up in London and was taken into the local police station.

That's when the search then begins for her owners

and luckily enough she was micro-chipped.

That chip then led to Dog Lost UK.

They informed her owner, who was absolutely over the moon

and ready to go and pick Lily up.

For Lorraine and her family,

this was the phone call they'd been hoping for.

We'd been on a group online and told everyone.

Everyone was ecstatic, everyone was celebrating.

'It was just amazing.'

Right, I'm going to draw Lily, then.

But things soon turned out to be far more complicated.

By law, if a dog is picked up by a warden,

or surrendered to the authorities, the dog must be held for seven days

to allow for any potential owners to come forward.

She was found groomed and well looked after,

so she, to them, had new owners.

This meant the Deakins faced an agonising seven days' wait in case

anyone else reported her missing.

But then, unfortunately, we had another owner come forward

who had had Lily for the past 22 months,

and that's when we realised that we now had two people

that were claiming ownership of Lily.

This was an upsetting situation for both sets of owners.

And that's when the Kent Police helped us.

My inquiries then came into play

with this potential owner up in London.

And following my inquiries with her,

I found out that the dog had actually been left with her

quite a while back by somebody else

who said that they would be back to pick her up.

And they never did return to collect her.

Police believe the suspected thief moved abroad,

leaving Lily behind in the care of some people

who were unaware she was a stolen pet.

Because she had been missing for two years,

the other owner had more of a right to her than we did.

When I spoke to the lady in London,

and she realised that Lily had been a stolen dog in the first place,

and that there was rightful owners,

she was more than happy to hand her back to the real owners.

When I finally got that call, "You can go and get Lily now,"

oh, it was just amazing.

It took me half an hour to calm down to be able to drive in the car.

It was all over.

It was the most amazing feeling ever, yeah, fantastic.

Oh, baby. I've missed you so much.

Lily seemed delighted to come home too.

You'll be here every day.

But the best reunion was still to come.

What's that noise?

'I hid Lily in the hallway.'

I don't know. Why don't you go and have a look?

'Got the video camera out, let them in.'

Lily!

'They went crazy, it was lovely.'

SCREAMING

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Lily.

SHE LAUGHS

I was pleased that we were able to reunite Lily back with her family.

I did see the YouTube article that the family did,

which has had a lot of my colleagues

in tears, especially all those that are dog lovers.

There was a lot of tears shed in Kent police

on the day that she was reunited.

It didn't feel like she'd ever been away, no,

it was like she had never been gone.

The whole horrible experience was wiped out.

She made herself straight at home. She sat in her favourite place.

She wasn't at all bothered or worried about anything,

it was just fantastic.

I felt really happy and excited to see her.

The kids are just so happy.

That night when I put Henry to bed, he said, "Mummy,

"thank you so much for finding Lily."

'For me, to have a positive outcome for any crime is a bonus,

'believe you, me.'

But where there's people that are involved emotionally,

yeah, it is very fulfilling.

'My message to that police officer,'

there's no words to explain

just how much it meant to us to get her back.

Just a lovely thing to do, to help someone like that.

Yeah, it means the world to us, so, yeah, she is a very lovely lady.

Good girl, Lily.

Now for an update on today's stories.

In the raid in Yorkshire,

the suspect was not charged for drug dealing.

He received a police caution for possession of class A drugs,

but not class B.

None of the items seized during the raid

were from the church burglary and were returned.

In the case of Barry and Theresa's burglary, no-one has been charged.

They have taken Paul's advice and made their home more secure.

We are going to get CCTV and invest in an alarm

because the scene of crimes officer

seems to think it's a good idea, it is a good idea.

You don't think of these things until after they've happened.

That is all from us today, we'll see you next time.

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