When David Hanson broke through the window of an M&S in Streatham Hill and nicked 20 bottles of prosecco and £500 worth of steak, he already had 105 convictions, including 33 burglaries. His face, and the entire crime, was caught on shop CCTV. When arrested he immediately admitted to the theft — along with a previous one at the same location — a confession that was caught on a body camera. As he was led away, he was wearing the same clothes he had worn to the earlier burglary.
Cracking a case can’t get much more straightforward than this. But the arrest wasn’t made by the Metropolitan Police, which decided not to investigate when called by the store manager, who had the incriminating footage. Hanson was arrested by private investigators, hired through the company TM Eye. This was the first time a burglar faced a jail sentence following a private prosecution. It’s likely not the last.
