A DRAMATIC robbery in Barnard Castle last year is to be featured in a BBC documentary.
A camera crew for the television programme Caught Red Handed visited the town last week to cover a robbery at Fox and Field countrywear shop, in Market Place, last October.
CCTV footage captured by cameras inside and outside the shop has been described as crucial in the arrest of one of the burglars and the recovery of thousands of pounds worth of stock.
At the time owner Donna Dobson considered shutting the shop and calling it a day, but reconsidered after some of the stolen items were returned to her in time for Christmas trade.
She said re-living the burglary had been emotional, but the television crew were excellent in the way they dealt with her and colleague Julie Nicholson.
She said: “I was bordering on tears a lot of the time because they wanted to know exactly how I felt at the time. But I want to get my story across because it is pointless otherwise. Hopefully it will be a deterrent if they [criminals] think there is easy pickings in Barnard Castle.”
Mrs Dobson paid tribute to Winston-based Neil Husband, of Secure Fit CCTV, who had installed her security system.
Part of the filming included the pair re-enacting such things as disarming the alarm and making phone calls as they had done immediately after the early morning robbery.
Mrs Dobson said: “It was super – the guys were really friendly. We did have a bit of a giggle in the shop doing it.”
The crew also visited Barnard Castle Police Station where they interviewed Insp Ed Turner about the police response to the crime.
Insp Turner said: “They arrived and asked if they could have 15 minutes, three hours later they pulled out of the station. The level of detail they go into is incredible. Obviously it is a cracking story.
“Had she [Mrs Dobson] not had CCV there is no way in a month of Sundays we would have got them.”
He said the information that had been gleaned in the crucial “golden hour” after the burglary had been critical to solving it.
In particular, footage of the vehicle and the level of violence the burglars had used when smashing the front door and pulling items from the racks had played a huge part in achieving the arrest.
He encouraged more businesses to invest in good CCTV camera coverage of their premises.
More recently a CCTV camera outside of Fox and Field captured the movements of a vehicle believed to have been involved in a robbery at Boots across the road, on Monday, July 8.
Kenneth Yorke, 27, of Walker Drive, Bishop Auckland, was sentenced to 27 months behind bars after pleading guilty to his part in the raid of Fox and Field.
The Caught Red Handed episode featuring the shop is to be aired later this year.
