Thieves in Suffolk who raided a rural garage for scrap metal and equipment didn’t bargain on CCTV cameras catching them in the act.
Plumber John Holles had installed two CCTV cameras on his property which captured excellent images of the theft.
Holles had installed two Y-cam CCTV cameras and positioned one over the door to the garage and the other beside the driveway, between the road and the garage, pointing back toward the garage.
The two cameras captured full body and facial shots of two men as they scouted the site, entered the garage and took items back to their vehicle parked at the bottom of the drive.
The value of the material stolen was £300, according to Holles.
“It’s almost like the impertinence of people to just come into your place and help themselves to your property,” he said.
However, capturing the CCTV footage made him feel better about the situation, saying it gave him a “feeling of empowerment because you could see who it was which will hopefully identify them”.
Holles has been burgled before which is why he says he purchased the cameras.
He called the police as soon as he realised what had happened and told them he had CCTV footage of the crime. However, he was disappointed to be told that it would be nine days before police could come out and collect the footage.
“It made me wonder what’s the point of providing them with evidence of this quality if they aren’t even interested in having a look at it,” he told BBC News Suffolk.
Suffolk Police later said they sent officers to collect the footage the following morning and apologised for the unacceptable delay.
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