Brazen brass bandit’s getaway in taxi is captured on camera
SUSPECTED THIEF SNATCHED PUB’S MEMORABILIA
CCTV tracking the moment a brazen thief used an unsuspecting taxi driver to get away from a crime scene has been revealed.
Police are hunting the suspect who loaded up bags of “brass memorabilia” he snatched from a rural East Riding pub before escaping with the help of an unwitting driver.
The man was caught on camera making off with the “memorabilia and deliveries” from The Hotham Arms in Hotham.
He was also caught on CCTV rifling through deliveries left on the doorstep of the pub before making off in a cab that he had hired to ferry him away from the village, the venue’s general manager claims.
Be cky Wilson, who was out at the time of the theft, described it as a “kick in the teeth” with the pub closed for customers due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ha ving launched an appeal for information online, Ms Wilson says she was told the intruder absconded without even paying his taxi fare after the Hotham pub raid.
Most of the items that were taken were sentimental to the family who own the pub, including brass jugs, tankards and trophies that were hung on the outside of the property.
The snatch has also raised fears that the man, who Becky believes to be from west Hull, might not be new to the area.
She said: “The taxi company said they’d dropped him here a few times. We’re just not sure why he has decided to come here.
“That’s why we put the social media appeal together. It doesn’t seem that his visits are frequent enough to be working here.
“It’s such a lovely, safe village and maybe he’s playing on that, I guess.
“There were parcels on the side doorstep that were delivered where we weren’t at the pub and he’s opened it and taken what took his eye.
“I think he grabbed whatever he thought might be worth something. I think some of it was sentimental as it belonged to the dad of the man who owned it.
“We are just worried that other people have had parcels out in the village that could’ve had theirs taken. He’s also apparently been sighted in Walkington as well.
“We’re such a small, little village that we’d never expect it.”
CCTV revealed that the pub was targeted between 4.30pm and 5.30pm on Thursday, with Humberside Police attending the scene on Friday morning.
“He filled his bags up an got in a taxi. Apparently he didn’t pay for the fare either,” she said.
“It’s been here for so long that it’s part of the furniture. I wouldn’t want to have a guess at the value.
“It’s just a kick in the teeth when you’re down with everything else that is going on.”
Anyone with information should call police on 101, quoting crime reference number 16/21572/21.