The burglar scared off from 4,000 miles away!
Cafe owner screams at raider on app from Caribbean
A cafe owner on holiday 4,000 miles away scared off a burglar back at home – while watching the break-in on his phone.
Jamie foster, 34, was on a coach to the airport in the Dominican Republic when he terrified the raider by screaming at his mobile, linked to a device on his premises.
The businessman watched aghast from another continent as the cameras were activated in his cafe and he saw the intruder rifling through the till.
But his cries startled the crook, causing him to flee Lillies cafe in Wickford, essex, with just £50 in his hand.
father-of-one Mr foster said: ‘It was a very quiet coach and then I just started shouting at my phone. I think I made a few people jump.
‘If anyone was asleep, it would have woken them up. I could see him rummaging around the cupboard. I told him I could see him.
‘If I wasn’t on a coach I probably would have been a lot louder and more abusive.’
Detectives are investigating last month’s break-in and have released an image of a suspect.
Mr foster said: ‘I got a notification about movement from my Ring camera system at the cafe. He added: ‘I managed to shout at him to try and make sure he left. He got in through a skylight window and stole about £50 from the till. I wasn’t able to call the police as I was abroad, so had to get one of my members of staff to contact them for me.’
Mr foster, who lives with his wife and three-year- old daughter in Laindon, essex, paid £159 for the Ring camera, plus an £80 annual subscription fee for the firm to store footage for up to 60 days. The camera connects to the cafe’s wi-fi and is activated by heat sensors. Once someone is detected, Mr foster gets a notification on his phone, which opens a live video feed. He was on his way back from a two-week holiday with his family when the intruder struck. It was the second raid this year following a burglary in March. Mr foster explained: ‘Luckily these incidents haven’t happened when the cafe has been open so it hasn’t had as much of an effect on the staff as it has on me. I am constantly checking the cameras to see if anything is happening.’ During the last incident, two men broke into the cafe, stole tablets used for ordering food and caused £8,000 worth of damage.