Episode 5 Robbed, Raided, Reunited

We're on the case of a crime that affects over one in 50 homes - burglary.

Coming up...

Devastated. Very upsetting.

I never realised I'd feel like this

when something like that happened because it's just an item,

but to me, it's... It's everything.

We're with the police as they hunt down criminals.

Stand still or I'll let this dog go! It's your last chance!

And we see how powerful it is

when stolen goods get returned to their rightful owners.

Out of everything that was stolen,

I think this is the item I'm most pleased to have back again.

It's full of so many memories.

It's a real emotional treasure trove.

In Essex, dog handler PC Tony Mayo is at home

with two-year-old German Shepherd Wilson.

He's a hard-working police dog

and he lives with Tony and his family.

I've had Wil just over a year.

Wil's my third general-purpose dog

over the years I've been on the dog section.

I've had two drug, sniffer dogs, as well.

And I went through various other dogs before we found the right ones.

But I have to say, I think he's probably my favourite

of the three cos he's so personable.

He's got his droopy ears and his big nose,

so it just makes him a little bit different from the others.

He's my favourite.

Tony's married with a young son.

And being a dog handler means a lot of work, even when he gets home.

A lot of the guys, normal bobbies and that,

when they go home for the day,

that's it, that's their work done.

But when we come home, we've got to keep on walking them,

feeding them, dealing with them when they're ill.

And that continues on your rest days.

You don't give them back. They stay with you sort of 24/7.

So it's a full-time job.

Tony has been a dog officer for 12 years

and has managed to keep one of his previous drugs dogs, Zippy,

as a family pet.

Like any dog handler, he builds up an incredibly strong bond

with the dogs he works with

and it's always hard to let them go once the working partnership ends.

I've retired two general police dogs before Wil.

I had them both for five years each.

It's extremely hard because you're with them every day.

They've got you out of some scrapes

and made you look good catching people over the years.

Then all of a sudden, to have to give them up and not see them again,

and then sort of just start from the beginning,

is emotionally hard and physically sort of quite demanding.

But whatever the hardships are,

Tony wouldn't swap roles with any of his colleagues.

It's the best job, I think, in the police.

Because you're allowed to hunt,

be a policeman and work with dogs.

And it's just that feeling of getting that result

where you wouldn't have normally got that result

if it wasn't for the police dog.

And today, Tony is really hoping Wilson will get that result.

The pair of them are on their way to an urgent call.

There's a report of three males

acting suspiciously in a road in Basildon.

This area has been getting quite hit for burglaries lately,

so we'll get there as quick as we can and, um...

try and see what they're up to.

No burglary has been reported,

but Tony understands how vulnerable the homeowners must be feeling.

It is intimidating when you've got three males outside your house

that are, um...just hanging about

and looking a bit suspicious.

But just as Tony and Wilson arrive,

the three men are already making off.

Two to Three, suspects making off.

Stand still or I'll let this dog go! It's your last chance!

Get out of the way!

Stand still! Stop him!

Two to Three, dog sent.

Stand still!

Stand still now!

Two to Three, Graham, get down here.

DOG WHIMPERS

Argh! Argh! Argh! Aaarrgghh!

Let go of him! Wil, leave.

DOG WHIMPERS

-DOG WHINES

-Stand still! Come back here now!

DOG BARKS

They need to be searched.

Cuff them up.

Although it isn't ideal for anyone to have been bitten,

Wilson has done the job he was trained to do.

A police dog bite is a serious injury.

What Wil's done is when Wil's got him on the leg,

he's got three or four pairs of trousers on,

so he's got a big mouthful of trousers.

Thankfully, for matey boy, that he didn't actually get him on the thigh.

because it would've been damaging to his leg.

If you hear, "Police dog. Stand still or I'll let the dog go!"

then you'd be wise to stand still.

Wilson has caught the three men the police wanted to talk to.

It's a successful mission.

And we'll be back on shift with Tony and Wilson later on.

We all know that burglary is a devastating crime

that will sadly affect about one in 50 of us.

Insurance claims are there to help us replace our stolen items,

but what if the thieves take something of little monetary cost,

but of huge sentimental value?

Something that just can't be replaced.

That's the predicament retired orthopaedic surgeon Malcolm Lawrence

found himself in.

Malcolm had chosen picturesque Hampshire

as the place to settle after a busy working life.

Just generally a comfortable, quiet, pleasant place to live.

I've always been happy there. We've never had any problems at all.

In 2004, Malcolm's first wife Pam passed away.

Malcolm treasured his precious memories of their life together.

Her rings and their wedding album.

I felt quite cast adrift, really, I suppose.

When you've had somebody who's been a wife and a friend,

you miss them quite a lot when they're not there.

During the years after Pam's death,

Malcolm gradually became close to the couple's mutual friend

and work colleague Sally Anne,

who had supported him through his grief.

Sally Anne has been somebody I've known

for many, many years working in Winchester.

We've always got on very well.

She's got a wonderful sense of humour.

One thing led to another, really.

The happy couple married in 2008 and haven't looked back since.

I always regarded myself as very lucky the first time around,

but to be equally lucky the second time around is, um...

you know, more than I think one can reasonably expect.

The newlyweds based themselves at Sally Anne's house.

They'd visit Malcolm's house nearby every so often,

just to make sure all was well.

But they discovered they weren't the only ones who'd been visiting.

I opened the door and it was soon fairly obvious

that somebody had been routing about on the inside.

Then, as I went through the house,

I found out they'd broken in the back door,

that was how they'd got in.

It was obvious that pictures had been removed from the wall.

The grandfather clock had gone

and lots of other bits had vanished into the night, as it were.

Some of the things that were particularly devastating to lose

was Pam's jewellery box,

including her wedding ring and engagement ring

and also there was the wedding album,

which obviously had a lot of memories,

both of her and of her family.

After Pam's death, these mementos of their life together

are so dear to Malcolm.

The photographs and the wedding ring itself, yes,

they obviously had quite a great sentimental value to them.

So their loss was somewhat devastating

because they were irreplaceable.

And part of your life, if you like, which, you know,

is something you hang onto and cherish.

Perhaps you don't realise the value of them until they're gone.

Obviously, I called the police.

The police came along, had a look around,

dusted the place for fingerprints.

We really thought while the police will look into it,

I wasn't sure how much chance there would be

that they'd recover any of the goods that had been taken.

It's a very strange feeling when you find you've been robbed.

You know, first of all, there's a kind of...

really, an "I don't believe it" sort of feeling.

Like Victor Meldrew, really.

And then the full shock and horror and implication comes in

that somebody's been rifling among your personal possessions,

often cherished possessions.

You know, it just leaves you with this rather horrible empty feeling.

I felt devastated for him.

Heartbroken, in fact.

Because I knew the value,

sentimentally, of the photo album.

And the personal things between him and Pam.

They'd intended to spend the rest of their lives together.

That was cut very short.

I was so angry, as well.

How dare they cause this disruption to our lives?

We hadn't asked for it.

SHE SIGHS

It's devastating.

It's devastating.

The burglars took over £10,000 worth

of belongings from Malcolm's house.

But of all the expensive items they took,

he was the most pessimistic about the return

of some irreplaceable reminders of a life gone by.

The wedding album, I would've thought that was something that,

as they came to sort the stuff subsequently,

they would either dispose of or...

..you'd not see it again. They wouldn't...

If they'd taken it in the first place,

they wouldn't exactly gift-wrap it and give it back to you.

Back in Basildon in Essex,

PC Tony Mayo and his dog Wilson are on a late shift.

Tonight, Tony is called to a burglary.

It's urgent that he gets Wilson there quickly

because the homeowners believe the culprits might still be inside.

I'll let him search the premises on his own

and if he comes across them, he'll introduce himself

and let me know that they're still there.

Most people just freeze when they've got

45 kilos of German Shepherd sort of barking at them.

-What did you notice, the door had been forced, or...?

-No.

The rear window?

The police helicopter's hovering overhead,

checking if the burglar's run out of the house.

I'm going to get the police dog just to quickly search it,

make sure there's no-one else hiding, lurking,

and then we'll go from there.

OK. Police dog. Come out now or I'll let the dog go!

The burglars have been through every room.

But Wilson can't find anyone inside.

If there was anyone in there hiding, he'd start barking.

He now searches the garden

with the help of a police helicopter overhead.

Two to Three to the hotel unit.

Just put your light on for us.

The garden is clear.

Wilson's done his job and the homeowners can now rest easy

that at least the intruders have gone.

A little bit scary, yeah.

They've taken, um...sort of small items, really.

Cash, jewellery, watches, camera, that sort of thing.

I called the police. Police helicopter was first here.

Um...helicopter was here within minutes, really.

Whilst I was on the phone, I could hear the helicopter coming over

and the police arrived in...ten minutes, I would say.

Wilson's earned himself a little rest.

He didn't catch the culprits this time, but the police are hopeful

that the forensic evidence they've gathered in the couple's home

might lead them to the burglars.

We've had Scenes of Crimes attend.

He's come with all his bits and taken markings, fingerprints.

So we'll have to await those results

and hope some positive results come out of that.

As far as the police are concerned, we go back to the station,

crime it and take it from there and carry on with our investigation.

It's never a nice thing.

I think burglary's one of those things, it's very personal, isn't it,

that someone's entered your personal space.

It's not a nice thing at all that happens, so...

It's all sort of reality sinking in a bit.

And burglary is a crime that Tony knows the effect of only too well.

Yeah, we got burgled where I live just about a year ago now.

About 7:30 in the morning,

our neighbour come with my wife's coat and handbag.

They'd gone through it, took her warrant card and her iPhone

and the rest of it was all strewn down the street.

Waking up to that realisation that you've been burgled

and someone's come into your house...

it's sickening, really. It absolutely guts you.

Because you just think, you know, your house is your castle,

someone's come into it, some...scumbag.

You're just angry, upset.

You've got so many emotions.

I empathise with burglary victims when we go and speak to them.

Yeah, I do know how you feel because it's, um... It's horrible.

PC Lisa Thompson also knows how awful a burglary can be.

She's from the Response And Patrol Unit, in Laindon, in Essex,

and regularly has to deal with the victims of this invasive crime.

Lisa joined the force six and a half years ago

because she wanted to do the right thing.

For her, the most satisfying part of the job, is finding the one

bit of evidence that leads to a suspect being caught.

They've obviously come home

and found that they've been burgled and have called us.

Scenes of Crime are already on scene.

It sounds like the gentleman's pretty upset,

so, we'll go and see what we've got.

Christine and Laurie have come home at 10:30 after a night out.

Initially, they didn't realise they'd been burgled.

The first thing we thought was the cat had done something

but as soon as we turned into the bedroom

and saw the doors open and drawers pulled open,

then we realised that we'd actually been burgled.

What was odd is what they took.

They took my wife's jewellery but it was other things,

like they left my watches, they left the camera, didn't take my iPad.

They even left some cash, so didn't take that, which was surprising.

Just took everything out of the drawers, just threw everything out

the drawers, out the wardrobes. They tipped Laurie's wardrobe, tipped all this outside.

So, they took quite a lot of stuff. Well, my stuff, anyway.

I'm just worried about my jewellery.

I've lost my wedding ring from my first marriage.

When my husband died, I've got my wedding ring, engagement ring.

Devastated. Very upsetting.

I never realised I'd feel like this when something like that happened,

because it's just an item, but to me, it's...

It's everything.

What she's lost has very little monetary value

but huge sentimental value.

So, you can't replace the sentiment.

The thieves broke into the couple's house by smashing through

the cat-flap on the back door.

I never did feel safe with that door

because of that wood done there, but I thought it was just me.

But apparently, if it had been glass, they'd have smashed that

got something to smash that in, I suppose.

But how the burglars got into the back garden,

to break through the door, is a mystery.

Laurie, a Magistrate, who spent many years

working for the police as a civilian, has his own theories.

It's very well fenced.

It's gated with a high gate which has got spikes on top,

so how they actually got in, they certainly didn't go out through

the front door, which was morticed. They came out this way.

I can only assume they scrambled over the fence

and went out through the next garden.

Before checking with the neighbours if they saw anything,

Lisa has a quick look around Laurie and Christine's back garden

for potential clues and forensic evidence.

Obviously that's a nice foothold but there's cobwebs on there

so I wouldn't have thought they've come that way.

Just looking to see if there's any kick marks

or anything out of the ordinary with the vegetation

around the garden, just to see if there's any obvious way

that they've got in from a neighbour or anything like that.

Because it's a cold night and the ground is frozen,

Lisa can't see any obvious clues like footprints.

But she needs to check the neighbours' gardens too.

You don't know if they've come garden-hopping

or anything like that?

The dog barks at anything. Mind you, she barks at anything

so one doesn't tend to take so much notice, but I think she'd have continued.

It would've been from 6:30 until half-an-hour ago.

We've been in from three o'clock, before that.

It's just a quick look, if that's all right?

Just to make sure there's no footprints or anything

across your garden or anything.

Things like this are a nice easy perch for somebody to jump on top of

and hop over a fence, but that's obviously not been disturbed tonight.

It's minus four out, so I would've thought there'd be

some marks left on there. It wouldn't take a lot to make a mark on there.

I don't think they've come this way.

Still a mystery as to how they've gained access into the garden.

Lisa can't solve this crime straightaway, but to her,

it's important to reassure the couple,

who are still clearly in shock.

Obviously, you're upset and shaken by what's happened.

How else are you feeling about the whole thing? Angry?

-Erm...

-I'm very angry.

-It'll take a little while.

-Yeah, I think...

Chris is frightened, obviously.

I would say I'm trying to be pragmatic about it,

but it's the invasion of privacy that I think is the real bit.

How dare they do that.

All of us sitting in this room, we do a day's work, we pay our taxes

and these people, this is what they do.

That makes me angry.

It's now nearly three hours since Laurie and Christine got home

and Lisa's waited for the right moment to take a statement.

It might be hard, but Lisa has to establish the facts.

This is the difficult bit. Can you try and put a price to the items?

-Your wedding ring.

-That changes. I don't know.

-Let's say £100.

OK, engagement ring?

£200. That comes to £1,000 ballpark.

-Roughly, yeah? OK.

-Yeah.

And a cost for the back door as well, to be repaired properly

-to a good standard.

-I doubt whether that door could be repaired.

-I would imagine...

-It's split the middle panel.

-It's going to be a new and you're talking about £700.

-OK.

With the paperwork done, it's time for Lisa to leave.

There are very few clues or forensic evidence

but she'll file a report and see if the details about how

the thieves got in and what they stole matches any other burglaries.

For her, it's the fact that criminals are creatures

of habit that helps get them caught.

-Thank you.

-OK, no problem. Thank you very much for your time. Take care.

Thank you.

But Lisa is still hopeful that she can somehow get

a result for Laurie and Christine.

It's nearly two o'clock in the morning

so the plan is to drop some burglary cards through the door,

which I've already written out, which gives the time between

when the people went out, to when they've come home

to discover the burglary.

The date and the telephone number, and then the incident number,

so if they've noticed anything, then they can call the police.

You never know, it's worth a try.

Although Laurie and Christine are completely devastated about what

has happened, they say Lisa made the experience a lot less traumatic.

The whole attitude of the police officer was sympathetic,

trying to help, trying to find out how we felt about it,

not making any false promises, and there is absolutely no doubt

that we feel much better,

because of the way the officer has approached us,

the way we've been treated,

and I couldn't actually begin to say how good she's been.

We're so grateful to her for the way she's gone about a difficult job.

A close friend of Lisa's was recently burgled,

so she knows exactly how vulnerable and upset the couple are feeling.

She thinks burglary is one of the most horrible crimes,

and this only drives her on to catch the culprits.

It's really sad when you meet nice people that have worked their

whole lives for a living, spent their money on nice things,

to have somebody come into their house, steal their items,

damage their door. You know, you can see how upset the lady was.

I really feel for them.

I just hope that we catch somebody, a little bit of justice,

and that the person that gets caught or the people that get caught

get a decent sentence.

And now back to Hampshire, where Malcolm Lawrence was

left in total dismay after burglars targeted his home.

The total cost of replacing the stolen items would be more than

£10,000, but his greatest concern was the loss of some

of his treasured possessions.

The wedding ring belonging to his late wife, Pam,

and the couple's photo album from their wedding day.

Whilst the police were busy making their enquiries,

Malcolm and his second wife, Sally Ann, had become more vigilant.

We've become a lot more aware of the need to check the place

than perhaps we were before.

I think the complacency we'd had had been quietly knocked out of place.

And just as well.

On one fateful day when Malcolm was doing his usual visit,

he realised somebody was inside.

As I came up to the house, I put the key into the lock.

I was aware of a rustling noise and I soon realised as I turned

the key to open the door, that they'd put the chain across.

That restricted the opening of the door

so I peered through the letterbox to see one of them promptly came

down from the loft and was running towards the back of the house.

I yelled to Sally Ann then to call the police.

Hello? Yes, there's someone in the house.

'I saw two figures running from behind the house through the woods.'

My heart started thumping at this stage because Malcolm was

closer to them and I wondered whether they would attack him.

I was terrified.

I could see down the lay-by and saw them emerge

through the hedge to the van.

I then started running towards them shouting, "Stop,"

whilst I was still on the phone to the police.

They didn't even look up, they got in the van and drove off.

I was terrified. I was more frightened for Malcolm.

But when I saw them, the thought that they might do me any harm

never really entered my head.

Certainly from their initial reaction,

they seemed more frightened of me than I was of them.

And perhaps they had every reason to be.

These burglars didn't seem to know when to quit.

Not content with what they'd taken last time,

it seems they'd come back for more.

I couldn't see immediately there was anything left for them to do

and why they'd gone back again.

Not content with removing the contents,

they'd come back perhaps to remove some of the metal, bricks,

mortar and the nuts and bolts to the house, if you like.

Whilst the thieves sped off,

Sally Ann was clear-headed enough

to write down the registration number on their getaway van,

a feat that the police were very grateful for

when they came to gather more evidence.

Well, the police were here taking a statement from me

as to what had happened, what I thought was missing,

and suddenly they had a call on their mobile phone.

They said very quickly to us, "Something's cropped up,

"we've got to go."

In fact, the police had already tracked down the name

and address of the van owner.

When they went to search their house,

they found a key that fitted a lock-up which was full

of Malcolm's possessions.

Unbelievably, every single item

stolen from Malcolm's home was returned.

The fact that they'd recovered everything I thought was amazing

and it was the fact that they brought it all back,

almost personal delivery service to return it,

which I thought was most impressive.

Our thanks go to the noble gentlemen at the Hampshire Constabulary.

I think they did a wonderful job.

Malcolm's late wife Pam's engagement and wedding rings

were safely back in his possession.

And, even more importantly,

the couple's wedding album was back home.

It's really good to get this back again

because it's full of so many memories.

In fact, there's more memories in here than I'd realised.

To have it back is an absolute delight.

Out of everything that was stolen,

I think this is the item I'm most pleased to have back again

because it contains so many memories, not just of my late wife,

but of many other people who have gone before.

It's a real emotional treasure trove.

Now for an update on today's stories.

In Essex, police dog Wilson chased three men.

In the end, there was no evidence of any wrongdoing

and no charges were made against them,

but the dog had performed excellently.

He also searched through a house where some burglars

were believed to have been hiding.

In that case, the culprits got away

and the police haven't yet found any leads to them.

Laurie and Christine in Essex,

who had over £1,000 worth of jewellery stolen from their home,

sadly haven't had any items returned yet.

But they have upgraded their security.

They've bought a new back door with reinforced glass

and a multiple-point lock.

And Hampshire Police are pleased to have charged two men

with the burglary of retired surgeon Malcolm Lawrence's home.

Both have been given 52 weeks' imprisonment

suspended for 18 months, with 150 hours of community service.

That's all from us today. We'll see you next time.

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