Caught on CCTV: This Convicted Killer Stole a $4 Million Fortune

“Every day over 17,000 crimes are committed in the UK. The demand was for 5 million pounds. They were getting deeper and deeper into this guy’s trap. Up against brick walls and denials. There were no leads, no evidence. This was going to be a mountain to climb. What does it take to catch the criminals?”

“I knew that I had to be relentless to build my case. An eye for detail and true determination. I wanted to fight for her to get the justice that she deserved. It’s the uncovering of this one clue that finally solves the mystery. It’s just fantastic. Everything has come together for you. And that was the moment of proof. Putting the criminals that affect the lives of innocent Britons behind bars. We will find you. We will prosecute you.”

“How a discarded cartridge helps police convict a man who gunned down a fellow officer. When it’s one of your family that have been harmed, there is always that increased drive to get a result. But first, how some prescription medicine helps lock up a gang of violent jewelry thieves. This was the moment we’d been waiting for. This is where we wanted to bring this case together.”

“Detective Inspector D Fielding of Surrey Police runs two teams of officers in a proactive policing unit. It’s their job to target the country’s most notorious offenders. So we deal with a real variety of criminals. A lot of them come from very difficult backgrounds. A lot of them are particularly dangerous. We’re simply here to find out the facts of what’s happened with crimes to solve it and to do what’s right for the victims.”

“One especially ugly crime would take every ounce of grit D and her team could muster. Early one spring morning, police receive an emergency call. There’s been a violent attack on a man in a car park in the center of town. When police were called, our uniformed officers responded to this and it was apparent immediately that this was a serious violent offense. The victim sustained serious injuries following the assault. He was clearly distressed. He was able to give us an initial account.”

“The 36-year-old man who’s been attacked is visiting the UK on business from America. He deals in high-end jewelry. So it was here at the Elmsley Center where the victim was going to be showcasing his jewelry. He was a little bit early for the appointment. So he had been sat in the vehicle for about 10 minutes when he exited the vehicle, took out the jewelry from the back of his car. It was at that point that he had been attacked by some unknown males.”

“Police quickly deduce this is much more than a senseless and brutal attack. He was kicked. He was punched. His personal Rolex watch ripped from his hand, which caused him to break his wrist. Significant amount of items have been stolen from him. It’s fair to say that he was in a very bad way. Police suspect the man was deliberately targeted. The amount of jewelry stolen is breathtaking. This was £4.1 million worth of jewelry that had been robbed. This was a violent and unprovoked attack on an innocent victim. It was really important that we try to identify who these people were as quickly as possible. It’s vital.”

“D finds any clues to put these dangerous criminals behind bars. Her team speaks to the victim. He recalls seeing a dark saloon speed away from the scene, but he can’t provide a description of his attackers or even tell police how many there were. We really didn’t have anything to go off and we really needed to get that first lead, that first breakthrough, to help us move this investigation forward.”

“Several violent and dangerous men are now on the run. But who are they? D looks to the car park CCTV for answers. So the robbery took place at 8:20 in the morning and we were able to see on the CCTV just a couple of minutes after the incident took place a dark saloon matching the description of what the victim had said, smashing through the barriers of that car park.”

“D has her first breakthrough. The robber’s getaway car is identified as a dark Mercedes. You can see the Mercedes comes speeding around the corner. There he goes through the barriers. It’s quite clear at this point that this is the right vehicle. D runs checks on the Mercedes number plate. Unsurprisingly, it turns out to be false. D and the team are back to square one. So at this point, we had officers out on the ground doing what we call old-fashioned police work. They were knocking on doors, looking for witnesses. And it was at this time that they came across a lady who had seen something that might be relevant to us.”

“So that witness identified they’d seen some males changing the registration plate on the vehicle. The witness even recalls part of the original number plate on the Mercedes. D runs the details through the computer and gets a match. We identify that there is a female that owns the vehicle who is associated with her boyfriend, who is very well known to police in the criminal world. The owner’s boyfriend is Camilo Carvajal, a 39-year-old Londoner with convictions for drug smuggling.”

“Police use CCTV to examine the Mercedes movements in the hours before the heist. They notice that there’s a second vehicle that’s driving in convoy with it on a regular basis. They believe that that second vehicle driving in convoy is likely to be part of this incident as well. The second car is a blue Fiesta. Checks reveal its keeper to be a man called Lee Gardener. The name immediately rings alarm bells with D. Lee Gardner was an individual who was well known to police. He had already been through the prison system and was known for very serious offenses which included serious violence. Lee Gardner is a convicted murderer. Now he’s D’s prime suspect in the robbery. But where is he, and can he and his accomplices be caught before they disappear for good?”

“In our next case, a discarded cartridge helps convict a man who gunned down a police officer. Sergeant Mel Thomas has been on the Leicester force for nearly 30 years. Growing up, he felt a deep sense of duty to serve his community. At the time we had low numbers of people from all backgrounds but mainly from black minority ethnic backgrounds within the service itself. And I wanted a career where I could make a difference. And that was mainly because there was no representation. Mel rises through the ranks quickly. He gets selected for the tactical support group, an elite team trained to deal with the most volatile situations. One night in bed, his phone rings. I got that call. You need to come in as soon as possible.”

“Mel races into work. When he arrives at the station, the atmosphere is filled with tension. And I knew there wasn’t something right. And I was then taken to one side and told, ‘We know you’re friends with Ian. He’s been shot.'”

“PC Ian Harding is Mel’s closest friend on the force and godfather to Mel’s daughter. You can imagine the emotion at that time, upset because my friend’s been shot. Ian had been on patrol in the city center when he came under fire. Was this horrible feeling like the bottom of the world had fallen out. My concern was, what’s his state?”

“Ian has been shot at close range but he’s conscious and has been able to tell officers what’s happened. I noticed a car come up against the one-way system at this road. So I’m thinking, what’s he doing? I ran out into the middle of the road to flag him down. As I moved within two feet, I saw his arm come out and something was shiny. As it came out of the darkness of the car, something went bang.”

“I held my left wrist and realized I’d been shot. A doorman from a nearby nightclub ushers Ian in. They immediately call an ambulance. The pain was just unbelievable. And what I saw in my wrist was a perfect hole just there. And I said, ‘Where’s my watch?’ Then the watch was gone. And I think that’s what saved my hand, to be honest.”

“Ian’s watch has been obliterated by the shot. He’s rushed to hospital where surgeons work to remove shrapnel from his hand. Mel is determined to find out who’s responsible. This was the scene of where the actual incident happened. So our job, our detail, was to search all the way along the front of the actual club. When it’s one of your family that have been harmed, there is always that extra feeling of emotion, there is that increased drive to get a result, and that’s what it was for all of us.”

“Mel’s team recovered tiny fragments of Ian’s watch plus shot from a firearm. It suggests the weapon is a small .410 caliber shotgun. But who pulled the trigger?”

“As they comb the area, Mel’s team noticed the security camera pointing out of the club onto the pavement. There’s Ian. Ian approached the vehicle because they see this vehicle coming the wrong way down the one-way street. He’s got the weapon out. There goes the bang. And then what you’ll see is one of the door staff here bringing him in to the club. He’s lucky to be alive.”

“Unfortunately, the footage doesn’t provide a clear image of the gunman or any indication of a motive. At that point, we did not know why that incident happened.”

“The team desperately need clues. Ian’s beat partner that night, Martin, has given them a starting point. Martin was absolutely amazing. Chased the vehicle down the road and was shouting the registration number on the radio. Police run checks on the number plate. It’s linked to a known criminal, Frank Foggin.”

“Mel and his team swarm to every address they have connected to Foggin. We wanted not just that person but anybody linked to them to feel unnerved, to know you know what, they’re coming after us.”

“Unfortunately, Foggin appears to have vanished into thin air, but then police receive a call from a traffic warden. Foggin’s car has been dumped on a quiet side street. We’ve got a lead now. We’ve got the vehicle that was involved in the actual incident itself.”

“The senior officers then have to make that decision of, do we seize that vehicle because obviously it’s a crime scene, or do you take the chance and leave it and hopefully somebody will come back to it? The senior investigating officers took the brave decision to leave the vehicle where it was, hoping somebody would come back.”

“Police are dispatched to stake out the vehicle. After just a few hours, someone approaches the car. Luckily, individuals went back to that vehicle. One of those individuals was Frank Foggin, and he was duly arrested. Foggin is taken into custody together with two other people. All three have their fingerprints taken. When they’re searched, officers make a startling discovery. So one of the individuals was actually found in possession of a shotgun cartridge that was secreted in their jacket pocket. Well, that is just Christmas and New Year and your birthday all in one hit.”

“Clearly, the cartridge fits the type of firearm police suspect was used in the shooting, but it’s purely circumstantial. The team worked through the night searching for that crucial clue. You’ve got the investigation team working tirelessly, um, on the phones, taking calls. You’ve got us out there doing the address checks, knocking on doors, because basically what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to get that lead.”

“At the 11th hour, Mel’s team receive an anonymous phone call. The caller hands them a potentially explosive lead. The shotgun cartridges linked to that incident had been dumped up at Walkway on Stevenson’s Drive. The team can’t risk losing vital evidence. The SIO at the time said, ‘He’s one of ours. Go out and find those cartridges.’ So the team went out and they recovered the shotgun cartridges.”

“The cartridges are dusted for fingerprints. They return a match for Frank Foggin. Once that happens, it’s just fantastic. Everything has come together for you. And that was the moment of proof. It’s checkmate for Mel and the team. Police question Foggin while other officers go to the nightclub to view their CCTV. They’re hoping to find some kind of motive for the attack. There’s Foggin entering into the club with two friends and you’ve got this door staff, uh, stood on the door of the club.”

“Foggin attempts to leave the club with a bottle of alcohol, which is not permitted, not allowed. He’s stopped by the doorstaff and there’s an altercation and he is basically ejected from the club. An hour later, Foggin returns to exact his revenge. When Ian approaches his car outside the nightclub, Foggin turns his gun on him instead.”

“In court, Foggin pleads guilty to wounding with intent and possession of a firearm. He’s jailed for 11 years. For Mel and his team, the result is bittersweet. We would have liked to have seen him being convicted of attempted murder, because at that time his intent was to go and do serious harm with a firearm. However, it’s not for us to decide. It’s for the courts to decide.”

“After 6 months of physio in his arm, Ian is finally able to return to work. I love the streets. It’s not really deterred me that much because I lasted another 15 years out in the streets. I’ve got full use of my left hand altogether. It’s one thing I was worried about, would I ever play basketball again, but I was, I played on for another 15 years or so before I finished. So I was really happy with that.”

“In Staines, detectives are investigating a brutal attack on a jewelry dealer. He’s been robbed of more than 4 million pounds worth of jewelry. Police have already identified two main suspects, Lee Gardner and Camille Carvajel. But it’s a huge heist and D knows they’re not working alone. So we’ve now got two suspects that we’re looking at, but we know that there’s more people that are involved.”

“So officers knew now that this was a really complex investigation. They had hours of CCTV to troll through to try and identify those key moments. D’s team painstakingly pieced together footage of the two cars identified in the CCTV, the Mercedes and the Fiesta. A picture gradually emerges of their movements in the lead-up to the robbery. This is about an hour and 20 minutes before the offense takes place. You see the Fiesta go up to where the Mercedes is parked and there you see the occupant of the Mercedes clearly walking out and talking to the occupants of the Fiesta. There’s no dispute here that these people are linked together. It’s also clear that their two suspects, Gardner and Carvajal, have company.”

“It was from this CCTV that was the first time that we identified two further males with a clear image. And we now needed to be able to identify who they were. D circulates the video to the forces across the country. It doesn’t take long before she gets a response. We got a positive identification back from the Metropolitan Police on one of those subjects. This was again a fantastic breakthrough for my officers.”

“The man is named as 40-year-old Londoner Chiro Troyo. D’s team now have enough circumstantial evidence to start making arrests. They get ready to raid all three suspects’ homes simultaneously. We are fueled by adrenaline. This was the moment we’d been waiting for, and this is where we wanted to find evidence that would bring this case together.”

“Lee Gardner has a violent past and officers can’t afford to take any chances. His front door is blown off and he’s arrested instantly. This was a massive moment for us because it was at this point that we identified some of the stolen jewelry both within his house and also within his vehicle.”

“One down, two to go. D waits anxiously by her phone for updates on the second raid. It’s at the home of Camille Carvajal. Up until this point, Mr. Carvajal had really been the the weaker link in terms of the suspects because we hadn’t seen him on CCTV like we had the other suspects.”

“The only evidence linking Carvajal to the crime is the Mercedes registered in his girlfriend’s name. D desperately needs more. It wasn’t until the officers searched the premises that they found these two items. This is an Omega pen and some Omega sunglasses. Both of these items belonged to the victim.”

“The team has finally connected Carvajal to the violent robbery. He’s arrested and taken into custody. So this success for us was a major part of the puzzle. This was the first time that we could directly link Mr. Carvajal to the entire conspiracy and we knew that this case was now going somewhere.”

“Unfortunately for D, her joy is short-lived. The raid at the third property belonging to Troy Yorno doesn’t go to plan. Unfortunately, Mr. Triano was not at the home address, um, so we were not able to arrest him at that time. So there were some concerns that he would get wind of what was happening, um, and potentially even flee the country.”

“If Troy Yorno flees Britain, police may never catch up with him. D has got to act fast. We put in place a media campaign. So his photograph was put onto the news, onto social media, so that we could identify where he was as quickly as possible. The tactic works. Troy Yorno was located and arrested within a few days.”

“So at this point, things are going really well for us. We’ve now got clear evidence linking these three suspects, but we’ve still got one outstanding. The identity of the fourth man remains a mystery. Inquiries with other police forces have failed to turn up any leads. D’s team keep on digging until finally they strike gold.”

“It was at this petrol station that we got clear CCTV footage of this individual. The petrol station cameras have captured him with Troyo just over an hour before the robbery. This shows the Merc at the back of a petrol station. And if you look carefully as he gets out of the vehicle, what’s really important, we can see a distinctive tattoo, um, just on the top of his hand there of a flower shape.”

“Who is the man with the tattoo? D’s team turned to the mobile phone seized from the three men in custody. They scour the records of all the numbers dialed. They could identify a number on those phones which we couldn’t attribute to anybody in particular at that time. And it turns out through further inquiries that that telephone number was known on the police system because it had been used for an unrelated matter. And from that, we were able to get a name and that name was Mr. Hicks.”

“37-year-old Londoner Oscar Hicks is a known associate of the three suspects, but is he the man at the petrol station? The team keep pulling at the thread. They do some research with that name in the internet and what comes from that is a picture of a gentleman matching that name that’s linked to that phone. And in those pictures, they can identify that he has the tattoo that we’ve already seen on the CCTV. Oscar Hicks is ‘Tattoo Man’.”

“The case is gradually coming together, but she still hasn’t tied Hicks to the violent crime. She gets a warrant and orders a raid on his home. And much to the officer’s surprise, when they got to that address and did the search, they found medication with the victim’s name on it.”

“Detectives couldn’t believe it. This was the moment of proof that we needed to show that he had a direct link to that victim. It’s the moment D’s been waiting for. The final piece of the puzzle.”

“All four men are charged with conspiracy to commit robbery. The victim received serious injuries during the attack and he’s still suffering the effects when he testifies in court several months later. Whilst most of the jewelry was never recovered, D’s dossier of evidence is overwhelming. The gang is jailed for a combined total of 65 years.”

“These were clearly high high sentences and was a reflection of the violence used and seriousness of the offense. This result is clearly testament to the hard work that was put in by a number of detectives who had the passion and the tenacity to get the result for the victim.”