Moment Sutton Coldfield home targeted as bungling man says 'ah, I just looked at the camera' 

by · Birmingham Live

This is the moment a Sutton Coldfield home was targeted as a man is caught on camera hastily leaving the scene after realising he had been caught on camera. The man, who cannot be shown for legal reasons, is seen carrying a backpack in a street in the Reddicap area of the town, off Reddicap Hill at around 3am on Saturday (November 23).

He walks towards the front door of the house, ready to raise the backpack, in a suspected relay theft attempt, where a device is used to amplify the car’s fob signal in the house to unlock and then start a keyless vehicle. His accomplice is seen in the video, stood by the door of the Nissan Navara pickup truck parked on a driveway.

But the first man then glances across at the Ring doorbell camera and is heard saying ‘ah, I just looked at the camera’. Unlike his friend, he has no face mask on and can be seen sporting a beard.

Read more: Moment car thieves target suburb attempting ‘multiple thefts’ in same night

He then hastily raises his backpack in an attempt to obscure his face and sheepishly strolls away from the house and his accomplice, both wearing hooded jackets then hastily walk off in the night.

A man approached the front door of a home off Reddicap Hill in Sutton Coldfield but just as he was about to wave his relay kit, he spots the Ring doorbell camera

The landlady’s daughter posted the footage online and said: “Please be extra vigilant, car thieves are out, trying pick-up trucks in Sutton Coldfield.” In a separate incident, another woman had posted online about her partner’s Nissan black pick-up being stolen in Gibbons Road in the Mere Green area of Sutton this week.

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While at the end of October, in another reported incident, BirminghamLive reported about relay thieves targeting vehicles and homes in the Streetly area of the town around Wednesday, October 23. A number of cars were targeted with at least one believed to have been stolen. While a Land Rover was taken in Hill Village Road in Mere Green in mid-November despite no key being taken and there being no sign of forced entry.

After realising he's been caught on camera, the man holds his backpack up to his face and strolls off as he mutters' 'ah, I've I just looked at the camera' in the Reddicap area of Sutton Coldfield

In relation to the theft in the Reddicap area of Sutton last weekend, a spokesman for West Midlands Police said: “We are investigating an attempted vehicle theft in a road off Reddicap Hill in Sutton Coldfield on 23 November.

“At around 3am a man was seen looking at a car parked on one of the driveways, but left the scene without being successful. If you saw what happened, contact us via 101 or Live Chat quoting log number 982-231124.”