Two car criminals gave themselves away when one of them was arrested wearing a rucksack stolen from one of the three BMWs they had just broken into. Police also recovered a mobile phone belonging to the other thief after he had dropped it when hopping over garden fences to escape police.
They were both arrested after a police dog had joined the search and picked up their scent. They were found hiding amongst foliage in a back garden next to a shed in Longfellow Road, Worcester Park.
When Lucas O’Neil of Creston Way, Worcester Park, and James Watson of Tramway Path, Mitcham, appeared before Magistrates they were each sentenced to 12 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to three counts each of theft from motor vehicles in Worcester Park, in the early hours of Monday, 10 March 2014.
A local resident called police on 999 at 02:38hrs after he had seen two suspects trying to open door handles in Beaumont Drive before heading into Portland Close.
Officers arrived on scene and closed in when O’Neil and Watson activated a security light behind Sherbrooke Way. Officers found a BMW with its interior light on, its glove box open and the contents spread over the passenger seat.
O’Neil and Watson could then be heard by officers climbing over fence panels in gardens along Portland Close and Beaumont Drive. The Dog Unit called to the scene found O’Neil’s Blackberry mobile phone in one of the gardens.
The dog tracked them to Longfellow Road where O’Neil and Watson were arrested for theft from motor vehicle.
Police enquiries discovered another BMW had been broken into behind Sherbrooke Way and another BMW broken into on a driveway in Beaumont Drive. The glove boxes of both vehicles had been searched and their contents scattered inside the front of the cars.
Watson was wearing a rucksack when arrested. One victim found that his Nike rucksack which contained a white towel was missing. The rucksack that was in Watson’s possession contained a white towel.
More: www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/suttonnews/11072364.Cops_catch_car_crooks_because_one_is_wearing_stolen_backpack/