Police have brought to an end a series of early-morning bag thefts at restaurants across London by staking out hotels to catch the culprit.
On Monday, 3 June, Mark Walker, 48 (11.12.70) of no fixed address was jailed for two years and two months in total for 21 counts of theft and one count of attempted theft.
Isleworth Crown Court heard how Walker stole bags containing goods worth approximately £25,000 from unsuspecting diners at 15 hotel restaurants in and around Heathrow Airport and in central London between September 2018 and March 2019. He also stole a rucksack from a departures area at Heathrow Airport.
Investigating officer PC Tom Blair, of the Aviation Policing Command, explained: “When we played CCTV of the thefts we found the culprit was very distinctive – he had a bald head, wore the same clothes and held the same green carrier bag on each occasion. All the offences took place over the breakfast period, between 6am and 9.30am.”
“Walker wasn’t a diner. He went into the restaurants with the sole purpose of targeting people who left their belongings unattended and used his jacket to cover up customers’ bags before lifting them from the tables and chairs where they’d been left.”
As part of their routine work, PC Blair and his team viewed CCTV images of thefts committed elsewhere in the capital, and recognised their suspect in footage of thefts at restaurants in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea.
Having linked 17 thefts – which included cash, a designer wallet, laptop and jewellery – officers set about catching Walker. They identified a pattern in his behaviour and a small team of 10 plain clothes officers attended a number of hotel restaurants around Heathrow on the morning of 26 March 2019.
PC Blair continued: “Lo and behold, he walked into one of the hotels, no doubt intending to nick another bag, but it was we who nicked him.”
Walker tried to run away from the police officers but they quickly caught him.
On 27 March, when faced with the evidence of his crimes, Walker pleaded guilty to all the offences, but the investigation did not end there. Officers went on to identify a further two thefts carried out by Walker in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, to which he pleaded guilty on 25 April.
Police then identified yet another two offences in Lambeth, in which Walker targeted two women at a hotel, stealing their handbags which contained money and a pair of gloves which were of sentimental value to one of the victims.
Walker pleaded guilty to these thefts on 14 May.
PC Blair concluded: “When you’re having breakfast, your mind is probably on the day ahead and not on whether there is an opportunist thief in the room with you. But the sad reality is that some people will make the most of your distraction for their own gain.
“It’s not just valuables that are taken. One victim’s bag, containing her passport, was taken by Walker on the day she was due to fly out, causing her significant stress as she had to obtain an emergency travel document. Another woman who was diabetic had her blood monitoring kit taken by Walker.
“My advice to anyone dining out is to keep your valuables with you at all times, because a moment is all it takes for an opportunist to steal your property.”
For more theft prevention advice, see http://www.met.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention