Lock-In
Tales: Taped Together
This prolonged
period of lock-in in the UK has led to a number of interesting dilemmas for
people in many businesses – and that is just as true for those of us who are in
the robbery business as it is for anyone else.
For one thing, we have had to adapt the way we make sure we secure and
silence those we visit. And for another,
we have had to deal with a lot more of the younger generation than we may like.
Take one
colleague I was speaking to the other day.
He had made his way into one house in the outskirts of one of our great
cities, intending to see what he could find to take, only to find that the lady
of the house was playing a game with her children. She had a daughter and a son – twins as it
turned out – and they were doing a Drama assignment for their school about a kidnapping.
Mummy was
already secured to a chair with some silver tape, and when she saw me they were
pressing the silver tape over her mouth, so she had no chance to warn the kids
I was there – and they had used all the silver tape up. What they did have was black electrical tape
– and a wide roll of yellow tape that could be used for bandages.
Which is why he
put them both in kitchen chairs as well, used the black electrical tape to
secure their wrists and ankles to the chair, and then covered their mouths with
strips of the yellow tape. It was all
their mother cold do not to laugh – never a good idea when you have your mouth
covered anyway – as he proceeded to rob the place.
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A very simple
idea, to be sure – but as I say, improvisation has been the name of the game
for a lot of us. Even for me, and
believe me, I can improvise with the best of them.
Last Saturday,
I made my way into a house in the south of London, looking for some quick finds
– and what I found were two children, a ten year old girl and a nine year old
boy. The girl was wearing a black top
with capped sleeves and shorts, as well as black baseball boots, and the boy a
dirty grey vest, black shorts, white socks and trainers. The family was a Caribbean one, the girl with
her hair in corn rows and the boy with very short hair.
I told them
both to be quiet, and asked where their parents were. Turned out their parents were both key
workers, and their seventeen year old daughter was meant to be looking after
them – only she was, shall we say, breaching the social distancing rules with
her boyfriend upstairs.
So I first had to
make sure the kids stayed quiet – which is why I picked up the roll of duct
tape that was on the surface behind them, and told them both to put their hands
behind their backs.
Five minutes
later, the lad was sitting on a chair, looking at his sister as I smoothed the
silver tape down over her mouth. He also
had tape over his mouth as he twisted round, watching as his sister sat next to
him and I taped their ankles as well.
They both nodded to show they were all right, as I turned the radio on
that was in the kitchen, and made my way to the upstairs floor, the roll of
silver tape in my hand.
Let me put it
this way – their parents found the kids first, perfectly happy – and then their
sister and her partner, tightly taped together, very closely together…
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It is somehow
better for those me and my friends visit when they are together – one female friend
of mine certainly believes that. She
called in on a local home the other morning to find two sisters – seven and
eight – with their mother. All three
were rather – large – but they actually seemed excited at the fact someone had
broken in.
Turned out they
were fans of the Games Players board – you know, the couple who stage home
invasions like big games of Cops and Robbers.
According to her, all three had long stringy blonde hair, the older girl
wearing a taupe top pulled down over one shoulder, the younger a grey striped
one pulled in the same way, both of them wearing the tops over bikinis, while
their mother had on a blue velour tracksuit.
So when the
girls asked for her to pretend to be the Games Player, how could she
refuse? The mother found a roll of dark
grey duct tape, which she used to gag her daughters “because the nice lady told
me to.” My friend could see their grin
under the tape as they watched her tape their mother’s wrists together behind
her back, and her arms to her sides, before they got off the couch and she lay
down, letting my friend tape her ankles and legs, and then cover her own mouth
as well.
The girls then
sat on the floor, after she had taped their wrists behind their backs, back to
back so she could tape them together, and then their ankles and legs as well,
before she robbed them, but left a very happy family to enjoy their time forced
to stay in…
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I also had an
opportunity recently to let a young girl play a game of robbers with her
grandmother. This was just after the
lock-in had started, and I had already scoped out the house, so I decided to
take a chance – but I took precautions, wearing a face mask and latex gloves.
Which both of
them noticed when I walked in on them in the living room of the house. The girl was about ten, wearing a white
sweatshirt and black leggings, with dark brown hair, while her grandmother had
lighter brown hair, and was wearing a grey hoodie and pants, as well as her
glasses. They were both surprised to see
me, but as explained I was going to rob them, and that I needed to keep them
quiet and in one place, they both agreed.
I sat with the
girl while I asked her grandmother is she had any rope and tape in the
house. She got up and came back with
silver tape, washing line and a pair of scissors – and two cloths. When the kid asked what they were for, the
grandmother said if I was going to tie them up and stop them talking, she
wanted them to be properly treated – so she folded one of the cloths, and put
it in her own mouth, her granddaughter giggling as she tried to speak, and said
she wanted to sound like that.
And so it was
that she put the second cloth in the younger girl’s mouth, and then covered her
mouth and chin with the duct tape, before allowing her granddaughter to do the
same to her before they hugged each other.
I then cut the washing line into several lengths, and used one of them
to tie the younger girl’s wrists together behind her back, and her ankles
snugly together, before I did the same thing for her grandmother.
She then lay
with her head on her grandmother’s lap, both of them watching the television
while I went about my business, trying (and not succeeding) to talk to each
other…
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I wasn’t the
only one who had to make sure a kid and a parent stayed together. My friend was in Solihull, and went into a
house on the off chance he could find something, where he was unfortunate
enough to meet a woman in her late twenties, and her five year old son. She was wearing a grey vest top with thin
orange stripes, and grey sweat pants, while her curly haired son had on a cream
top with blue and grey sleeves, and blue shorts.
Well, they were
a little surprised and upset, naturally, but he spoke softly, calmed them down,
and explained he had to keep them in the seat they were in and quiet. Well, she understood, and apparently she
hugged her son as he held up a roll of red tape he had picked up when he went
in. She knew what he was going to do, so
she said to cover her mouth first – then, when her son saw she was all right,
he could do it to her.
This was one of
those occasions when he knew she was saying the right thing, so he covered her
mouth with several strips of the red tape, then waited as her son looked at his
mother, and then touched the red tape with his hand before he giggled. She laughed back – well, mumbled back – and
nodded as he covered her son’s mouth with the tape as well.
He then taped
his wrists together in front of him, before he told his mother to give him the
biggest hug she could. He was sitting across
her lap, so when she hugged him he was able to tape her wrists together by her
side, so that they would stay together.
He then taped
his ankles together, before he knelt down and taped his mother’s ankles
together, the grey material of her pants flaring out under the red band. He was then able to leave them with each
other while he found what he could…
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Part of the
current situation, of course is that the parents are expected to take on some
of the teaching of their kids. Another
of my friends happened to walk in one television based class which saved him a
little time.
This was a
detached house in the Alderley Edge area, and he got in without any problems to
hear the television was on. It was when
he looked in the room the television was in that he had to stop himself
laughing.
There were
three kids sitting on a couch, watching Joe Wicks – only they could not join
in, given the tape that was holding their wrists together in front of them, and
their ankles, as well as covering their mouths.
The boy was twelve, and wearing a red t-shirt and baseball cap with grey
shorts, his feet hanging over the leather cushion. On the other side was an eleven year old
girl, wearing a pale blue Disney princess dress, and in the middle a six year
old girl in a red sweatshirt with gold writing and blue jeans. All three were barefoot, the younger girl
wearing a straw hat on her blonde hair.
And the reason
for this way of not learning? That would
be their father, who was sitting at a table on the other side of the room,
working on a laptop. They saw him, and he
put a finger to his lips to get them to stay quiet, before he walked across the
room and had a – conversation with the man.
One that left him in the chair, as secure and silent as the kids as he
robbed the place…
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OF course, it
would be wonderful to say all these encounters were peaceful ones, with little
trouble, but sadly that is not always the case.
My former partner had to deal with such a situation in North London,
when he walked into a house where the au pair and the two children were less
than cooperative at first.
Their parents
worked at the Royal Free, so he figured it would be a simple in, keep them
locked in a room, and out job. When he
disturbed them in the kitchen of their house, however, something entirely
different happened.
The daughter
was eight, and wearing a tied dyed t-shirt with orange shorts, while her seven
year old brother was only wearing a pair of black shorts. The au pair had on a pink vest and leggings –
and when she saw him, in his black jumper and pants and with the black face
mask covering his nose and mouth, she just looked at the kids and said
“Scream!”
Which is that
they both did – until he stood behind them, with his latex gloved hands over
both their mouths, and said if they didn’t stop screaming he would do something
to hurt them.
Did they stop
screaming? Nope – but then the au pair
told them to stop screaming, that they would be all right if they calmed
down. It took a little while, but they
eventually stopped as he saw the roll of duct tape on the side.
They were
sitting in green wooden chairs, so he told the au pair to sit in a third one,
and use the duct tape to secure her ankles to the chair legs. He then told her to wrap it round her upper
legs and the chair seat, before he told the kids to keep quiet – and then to
help them with that, he took two handkerchiefs from the laundry basket next to
him, and put one into each of their mouths.
He used two
more to stuff the mouth of the au pair, and then taped over her mouth before he
taped her wrists together behind her back.
The kids watched this, too scared to move as he came back over and
pressed strips of the grey tape over their mouths, then taped their wrists together
behind their backs and their ankles and legs together.
He told them
not to move as he ransacked the house, and then left them there – he felt a
little bad he had to do that, but it was necessary…
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So, like I
said, strange times means strange ways of approaching our work – so I want to
thank you for cooperating so well, and the fact your three children have
behaved themselves so well. I must say,
that blue tape does a very good job of keeping them in the seat and keeping
them quiet – just as it is doing for you.
So, nod to tell
me where the valuables are, please…
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