Bungling Buckden Burglar Caught On Camera

A bungling burglar was arrested after being caught on camera putting fuel into a car he had just stolen.

Ben Cooper, 25, broke into a house in Lucks Lane, Buckden, via a side door at just before 2.45am on 6 September.

Once inside, Cooper and a teenage accomplice took the keys to a Land Rover Discovery and Seat Leon and stole them from the driveway minutes later.

The Land Rover’s tracking device was automatically activated and showed it travelling to a Shell garage in Godmanchester.

By the time the car’s owner realised the vehicle had been stolen, the tracker was showing it as being parked in Alexandra Road, Walthamstow, London.

Officers from the force and the Metropolitan Police both attended the London location on different days and neither car was found there. According to the Land Rover’s tracker this was the last known location of the car.

CCTV from the Shell garage in Godmanchester was recovered and showed, at 2.54am, the Land Rover pull into a petrol pump space with the Seat being driven behind.

Both Cooper, of Bascraft Way, Godmanchester, and the teenager filled their cars with petrol for just 30 seconds each before paying in cash and leaving the site.

ANPR identified both cars on the M11 at Duxford at 3am and 5am, and the Seat Leon in Waltham Cross at 9am.

CCTV images of the two men were shared and both were identified by Metropolitan Police officers.

Cooper was arrested at his home at just before 8am on 24 October. A Lacoste beanie hat and gloves were found at his home, which matched the ones pictured on CCTV.

The items were found in the living room in a box which contained disposable plastic gloves, a hammer, hack-saw, multi-tool and other tools.

A previous custody photo of Cooper from this year also revealed him to be wearing the same clothes as in the most recent CCTV footage.

Cooper pleaded guilty to burglary and theft of a motor vehicle at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on 26 October.

His case was committed to Peterborough Crown Court for sentence on Tuesday (8th December) where he was handed a total of 56 months in prison.