On CCTV, spree burglars’ terrifying new house raid
Masked gang behind 20 crimes in the same affluent area
WEARING masks and baseball caps, four burglars rifle through drawers in a family’s home before leaving with bags full of loot.
Less than a month later, the same gang struck only a few doors away. This time they held two children and their grandparents hostage, threatening them while they stole jewellery and cash.
In each case, the men, who are believed to be behind up to 20 burglaries in an affluent London suburb, smashed a rear door to get in.
Police have released chilling CCTV footage of the two raids in a bid to catch the gang, one of a number of teams of ‘spree burglars’ – highly organised professionals who target affluent areas, raiding dozens of properties before moving on to a new patch.
The first pictures show the gang ransacking a house in Cookham Dene Close, Chislehurst, South East London, on Friday, February 9. They smashed the rear patio door at about 7.10pm and broke into a safe, making off with cash, designer handbags and jewellery.
The second raid appears to involve the same men. Wielding a crowbar, sledgehammer and long screwdriver, they were filmed smashing the patio door of a house in the same Chislehurst street on the evening of Monday, March 5.
Inside, they threatened two children, a boy of 11 and a girl of 14, and their grandparents, aged 81 and 79. The children were dragged through the house as the burglars demanded to know where any valuables were kept. The grandparents had liquid, which turned out to be harmless, sprayed in their faces.
The homeowner, a consultant oncologist, said: ‘My parents were babysitting my son and daughter after they came home from school. The thieves knew that they were home and we think they had seen my son playing his computer games in his room. They had a bottle of colourless substance which they squirted into my parents’ faces, it turned out not to be anything noxious, it was just them trying to intimidate.
‘They were bashing their tools against the doors and door frames and saying, “We will hurt you if you do not stay still”.
‘They were inside the house for just eight minutes. My daughter heard them come in and went and hid herself in an en suite.
‘But they unlocked it from the outside and took her round the house asking her to point out where the valuables were.
‘My little boy managed to smuggle a phone to my mum, who phoned me and I phoned the police. My mum managed to phone the police as well. The thieves knew that a call had gone out so... they scarpered.’
The burglars, who drove off in a silver Mercedes, were white, stocky and in their mid-20s with Irish accents.
In both raids they wore matching Converse All Star style trainers, baseball caps, scarves and dark gloves, while one carried a bottle which he used to spray items before touching them.
They may also be responsible for a burglary in nearby Keston on February 21 in which a safe containing watches and jewellery was taken. Bromley Police said: ‘The men appear to match the description of suspects who are wanted in connection with other offences in the Chislehurst area in which the properties have all been broken into through the rear after the doorbell was rung.’
The break-ins happened only five miles from Hither Green, where burglar Henry Vincent was stabbed to death during a nighttime raid on pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks’ home on April 4.
Last month the Daily Mail highlighted the rise in ‘ spree’ burglaries now blighting wealthy areas across Britain.
In Surrey, there was a 78 per cent increase in burglaries in the year to September compared with the previous 12 months.
The gangs, some from Eastern Europe, drive fast cars with fake numbers plates and travel the country, even sleeping 15 to a room in rented accommodation.