Bungling Burglars Leave Last Heist In Cab Driven By Victim
Posted April 20, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
We’ve noted before in these pages that you don’t have to be a criminal mastermind to be a thief. And most aren’t. But even if you’re as stupid as these two guys, you also have to be incredibly unlucky to be caught this way.
The crimes took place over a series of months late last year in the city of Leicester, England, where 28-year-old Robert Brooks and Neil Goode, who is a year younger, both carried out a number of robberies to finance their ever increasing drug habits.
The idiots were too stupid to come with their own getaway car, so one night in December, after robbing a home in the city, they called a cab to come and pick them up.
The taxi dutifully arrived, and the pair got in. They were loaded with computers, jewellery, Christmas gifts and money and began laughingly rifling through their haul even as the driver took them to their destinations. It was pretty obvious what was going on, and the cabbie quickly figured out something was wrong.
In an incredible coincidence, she had also been the victim of a house robbery two months before and wondered if the duo in her back seat had pulled a similar heist on her. The determined woman asked them if they’d just robbed the place, never letting on she was one of their victims.
She was scared but smart enough to drive them to their addresses, which turned out to be their own residences. Once they were out of the cab, the determined mother picked up a phone and called police, who arrived minutes later to discover the loot in the possession of both men.
Caught red handed, the pair both pleaded guilty to burglary charges this week. Brooks will spend almost two years behind bars, while Goode will be able to contemplate his misdeeds for the next 34 months.
Authorities condemned the pair, with even Goode’s own attorney admitting to the court that his client carried out one of the most bungled attempts at robbery ever put before a judge.
The moral of the story – if you’re going to rob a place, at least rent a car. Or leave your unsuspecting cab/getaway driver a good tip before she gives an even better one to police.
