This footage revealed exclusively to the Wimbledon Guardian today shows the prolific fisherman’s hat burglar calmly making off with cash and jewellery worth £100,000 in a safe from a Wimbledon home.
The notorious 'fisherman’s hat burglar', who police have spent years trying to catch, can be seen creeping around the garden of a home in Parkside, by Wimbledon Common last November.
The enigmatic thief, pictured above, who got the nickname because of his distinctive headwear, is suspected of plundering an estimated £10m from Wimbledon homes, including that of Boris Becker, over the past decade.
Most recently he struck on Friday at a home in Arthur Road, Wimbledon, which adds to the 20 homes he is suspected of breaking into in the last four months alone.
It is only a matter of time before he is caught, the head of the burglary squad, detective inspector Dan O’Sullivan said.
In the footage, taken from a victim’s CCTV camera, you can see what looks like a heavy box being dropped from an upstairs window onto the grass outside.
The ‘box’ was a 45 kilo (seven stone) safe, which had £100,000 worth of cash and jewellery inside.
A few minutes later a man can be seen emerging from inside the house and pickking up the safe before calmly walking off.
Tennis star Boris Becker’s home has been among those targeted in the past, as well as properties in Arthur Road, Bathgate Road and Church Road in Wimbledon.
DI O’Sullivan issued the footage in the hope someone would recognise the man.
DI O’Sullivan, of Wimbledon CID, said: “It’s clearly him.
“It has been a very protracted investigation. It has been going on for two years.
“I might have to ask him to hand himself in."
DI O'Sullivan said the offences were committed at night, and is asking people who know someone who goes out at night in strange circumstances to alert them.
“It is only a matter of time before we get that lead and we get him," he added.
In another offence in the early hours of last Saturday morning, police were called to a multi-million pound house in Home Park Road by Wimbledon Park to reports of a burglary.
A helicopter and police dogs were drafted in to look for the thief who had taken a few hundred pounds in cash from the home but no one was found.
Despite being caught on CCTV that was featured on a TV Crimewatch appeal and his photo widely circulated by the Metropolitan Police he has never been caught.
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