Brazen thieves have been caught on camera carrying a large tool shed out of a Hull man’s garden after first selecting which of the contents they wanted to take or discard.
CCTV captured what appears to be two male figures carefully laying out tools from the chest-height store, before casually opening the gate and carting the shed away. The incident happened on Monday night (January 6) but householder Steve Foster was not aware until around midday the following day.
Steve, of Biggin Avenue, said: “It’s unbelievable. I’ve never known anything like this.
“I said to my wife, ‘on such cold nights we should shut these curtains’, and we actually left them closed until about dinner time on Tuesday. She opened them and said, ‘the shed’s gone’.”
CCTV footage was shared with police of what Steve called a “callous” act by the intruders. “There’s a 7ft fence all around the garden and you’d never know what’s inside.
CCTV footage shows two figures emptying a tool shed and carrying it away in the space of five minutes
(Image: Steve Foster)
“I can only think that I’ve maybe been out in my garden doing something and someone’s glanced in and seen the shed. I think it’s probably been stolen to order, with a buyer before they even came here, as they went straight to it.
“They don’t care about the upset they’ve caused but this has made my wife, who is already poorly, even more ill. She suffers with a lot of problems – she has been in hospital twice recently with sepsis – and she has got anxiety.
“My wife is a wheelchair user and we changed the garden to make it easy for her to access. It’s something pretty and pleasant for her to look out on.
“These people have intimidated us and with it affecting my wife as it has, it’s made me more determined to give this as much attention as I can.” Steve said he bought the tool shed about three years ago for about £230.
The thieves cut around the base of the shed, believing it to be fixed in, leaving a hole in the resin surface that the couple had spent thousands on to make the garden more accessible. “There’s this gap now,” said Steve.
“It’s a case of saving up for a replacement now. I’ve said to my wife, don’t worry about the next one, as I am going to drill it into the concrete below, or concrete it in, so no one can move it.”
A spade was taken along with the shed by the thieves, who Steve thinks got in by one of them climbing over the fence partitioning him from his neighbour, and opening his gate to let the other in. “I don’t know exactly what else went, they were laying the tools out on the ground.”
Steve said: “I know it was dark but someone must have seen these two carrying my shed away as they had to walk past houses.” A spokesperson for Humberside Police said: “We received a report that a shed and gardening equipment worth an estimated £100 had been stolen from a property in Biggin Avenue in Hull between Sunday 5 and Monday 6 January.
“Anybody who may have any information can contact us on our non-emergency number 101 quoting investigation reference 25*2211.”
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