CCTV of Camden robbery lost as Met Police take WEEK to react

With the robbers still in sight, he tried flagging down a passing police car – but the officer said he was from Hampshire and could not get involved.

Metropolitan Police did not attend until a week after the robbery, meaning CCTV was auto-erased before it could be retrieved.

Now the father and son have contacted the Ham&High to express their anger and disappointment at the police, who they say bungled the whole investigation.

The victims say they are speaking out to warn others that calling the police after a robbery is “pointless”.

Robbery

On October 6, Daniel (not his real name) set off for the bank with almost £1,000 in his pocket.

As he walked up College Crescent, he was grabbed from behind.

“Someone put their arms around me in a bear hug,” he said.

He felt a hand dip into his pocket and was then released.

He span around to see a young woman staring back at him, his cash in her hand.

“I think she couldn’t believe her luck,” he said. “It turned out to be a very lucky dip. She hit the jackpot.”

The girl, of Eastern European appearance, was flanked by two Asian men, one of whom had grabbed Daniel while the girl took his money.

The trio fled in different directions.

Daniel said he was on his way to this Natwest branch, in Finchley Road, to collect some foreign currency for a trip abroad - but he never made it (Image: Charles Thomson)

“Nag”

“The first problem we had was getting the police to show any interest,” said Daniel. “I had to really nag.”

He and his son Mark (not his real name) found CCTV footage of the robbers following him and then fleeing.

When Mark saw the videos, he recognised the robbers. He had seen them hanging around the area on the morning of his father's robbery.

They showed police the footage when they finally attended, a week after the robbery. Mark had filmed it from the owners’ screens with his mobile phone.

“That was the last we heard from the police,” said Daniel.

“They just said, ‘If you ever see them again, stay away and call 999’,” added Mark.

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“Upset”

On Tuesday, May 2, Mark was shocked to see the robbers back in College Crescent.

“They were following another older gentleman,” he said. “I think they were about to do the exact same thing.”

One of them clocked him watching, he said, and they left the man alone.

Mark followed them at a distance and dialled 999, but said he was told nobody was available to attend and all they could do was take a description.

Then he spotted and flagged down a police car.

“The policeman said he was from Hampshire police, has not been instructed in this and there’s not much he can do,” said Mark. “Clearly, he had something better to do.”

Hampshire Police told the Ham&High its officer “was already deployed to deal with a matter” and “would not have been able to assist”.

“It was a lost opportunity,” said Daniel. “I’m even more upset about that than I am about the original incident.

“They’re still out there, probably doing the same thing with impunity. It’s very annoying.”

Daniel was only a short walk from the Natwest bank he was heading to, near the junction of Finchley Road and College Crescent, when the robbers struck (Image: Charles Thomson)

“Awful”

Questioned by the Ham&High, the Met admitted that its delay in responding to the case meant the original CCTV was lost - which Daniel and Mark did not know until we uncovered it.

“It’s just been awful from start to finish,” Daniel said.

“In the world we live in, where the police don’t have the best reputation, they are not doing themselves much help,” added Mark.

The Central North Robbery Unit contacted Daniel five days after he was robbed and did not attend until even later.

“CCTV was located which showed the suspects following the victim and efforts were made to secure it,” the force said.

“Unfortunately, the owner of the system was not able to download the footage and specialist officers were subsequently sent to the venue to retrieve the CCTV.

“Regrettably, the footage had been overwritten in the intervening time.”

The Met said it had since “restructured” its Central North Borough Command Unit (BCU) and created an "image retrieval unit” to “improve the efficiency with which we retrieve CCTV”.

It has also “introduced new robbery investigators to improve our service to victims”.