CCTV Halts Crime Spree after Coffee Shop Hit Three Times in One Day

A hoodlum who spent Christmas Day raiding the same coffee shop three times was jailed this week after pleading guilty to three counts of burglary and four counts of theft and criminal damage.

David Dale, a 30-year-old professional burglar who has been grappling with a drug addiction problem since adolescence, was apprehended back in December for a series of crimes in the build-up to the big day. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail at the weekend.

A festive crime spree

Dale’s latest crime spree began on the 23^rd December when he stole £120 worth of gift sets from Iceland in Stockton-on-Tees by concealing the booty beneath his jumper and leaving the store. The very next day, he ransacked the local Asda and made off with £40 of goods in the same manner.

Dale’s next move was to take advantage of the extended closing hours of Costa Coffee in neighbouring Middlesbrough. With the store closed until the 27^th of the month, Dale broke in not once nor twice but three times on Christmas Day, his thefts increasing with each break-in.

The first time, he entered just after lunchtime and pilfered the staff tips jar, believed to contain around £10. Not satisfied with that meager haul, Dale returned just over an hour later and emptied the cash register with a key he found inside the property, making off with £100 in cash. However, he returned a final time at 7.50pm that evening and used another key to unlock the safe, absconding with around £2,000 this time. All of his exploits were caught on the store’s internal security cameras.

He went on to raid the Stockton branch of Boots for £280 worth of goods later that month but it was the CCTV footage from the Costa burglary which would be his undoing. He was arrested on the 30^th December and despite trying to fool the authorities by claiming he’d just taken an overdose, he was successfully detained and tried last week.

The latest in a long list

Although Dale’s latest spree was one of his more lucrative, it was far from his first dalliance with crime. He had only narrowly avoided jail time on the 21^st December when he was given a community service sentence for previous convictions but did not succeed in staying out of trouble for long.

Indeed, Dale’s lengthy list of misdemeanors totals approximately 100 convictions for 259 offenses, mainly composed of theft and burglary. He’d turned to crime from a young age due to a crippling drug addiction that had forced him to steal to feed it.

Recognising this fact, the judge ruled with leniency and did not impose the maximum custodial sentence of up to four years, despite the fact that Dale is a repeat offender.

“Because I think there is a prospect here that you might pull yourself around I am going to temper the sentence,” said Recorder Jeremy Barnett. “I hope that you spend your time usefully in prison, clearly it will require you to sort yourself out. If you don’t courts will lock you up for longer and longer.”

CCTV to the rescue

Though there may have been extenuating circumstances behind Dale’s relentless penchant for shoplifting and criminal activity, they do not lessen the seriousness of his crimes. Indeed, without the CCTV footage from Costa (and other stores), it’s entirely likely that Dale would still be at large today.

Avoid your own home or business being exploited by an unscrupulous thief in the same way by taking every precaution to safeguard your property. At Blackburn Alarms, we have a whole host of intruder alerts, CCTV cameras, and access control systems to increase safety and give you peace of mind. To find out more about how we can help secure your home or workplace, get in touch with us today.