This is the moment a thief is caught on camera stealing nearly £10,000 worth of tools from a gardener’s van – then loading his haul into a waiting taxi he had called to collect him.
The raider was recorded on a doorbell camera making repeated trips over the course of a full hour to empty the contents of the van he had broken into and prepare it to be collected.
He even used a stolen leaf blower to wave down his cab when it arrived before loading it and making his getaway.
The van’s owner was astonished by the meticulous care the thief took in stealing everything from his vehicle – and then horrified that even when presented with this evidence the police have yet to make an arrest.
Furious victim Phil Hardy, 44, from Anlaby, near Hull, East Yorks, said: ‘This case should not need Sherlock Holmes to solve it.’
Mr Hardy says that since sharing the footage other neighbours have come forward to say they recognise the thief and have linked him with similar crimes.
Yet, despite officers recovering the footage from a neighbour’s camera just hours after the December 31 theft, Mr Hardy says he has heard nothing since from Humberside Police.
The thief, pictured walking, even used a stolen leaf blower to wave down his cab when it arrived before loading it and making his getaway
An Uber carrying the raider – who had taken meticulous care to steal everything from Mr Hardy’s vehicle – drives off
Phil Hardy, 44, (pictured) launched Elemental Creations in 2021 with son Tom, 21, after being made redundant from his mechanic job during the first Covid lockdown
The self-employed landscaper has subsequently been left unable to work and cannot afford to replace the stolen goods, prompting his sister to set up a GoFundMe fundraising appeal.
Phil, who launched Elemental Creations in 2021 with son Tom, 21, after being made redundant from his mechanic job during the first Covid lockdown, said: ‘This should not be a case that needs Sherlock Holmes to solve it.
‘The guy is on camera, clear as day, moving my gear from one alleyway to another. It’s the best evidence you could wish for.
‘You see the taxi pull up and the guy wave him down with my leaf blower.
‘It’s not like there are a hundred taxi firms around here, there’s only about three.
‘It wouldn’t take a half-decent detective an hour to find out which firm it was, who the driver was, which phone number ordered the taxi and where it went to.
‘And yet they still haven’t done a thing with it.
‘It just leaves you gobsmacked. If they’d put in even basic police work, I’d probably have all my things back by now.
Mr Hardy said: ‘The guy is on camera, clear as day, moving my gear from one alleyway to another. It’s the best evidence you could wish for’
‘But here we are, a week-and-a-half later and nothing. So my gear will be long gone – probably sold on for £20 just so the guy can get another hit.’
Mr Hardy added: ‘I think if a police officer had tried to track down that taxi when they first got the footage, eight hours after the theft, I think they’d have found all my stuff.
‘It doesn’t seem like the most complicated investigation in the world.
‘We rely on the police to keep communities safe but they just don’t do themselves any favours.
‘When they do get an open goal to actually do something, nothing happens.’
The masked thief struck shortly before 3am on New Year’s Eve, unloading Mr Hardy’s van which was parked in a back alley behind his terraced home.
He was filmed moving items including a £1,200 chainsaw, £1,000 strimmer, and two £800 hedge trimmers, to another alleyway on an adjoining street 100 metres away.
At around 3.50am, with the van emptied, a taxi arrives, with the driver appearing to help the thief load the items into the cab. By 3.53am, the taxi disappears into the night.
Humberside Police sent two officers to Phil’s terraced house who began conducting door-to-door enquiries and retrieved CCTV footage of the brazen crook making his repeated trips
The raider was recorded on a doorbell camera making repeated trips over the course of a full hour to empty the contents of the van he had broken into and prepare it to be collected
Mr Hardy said: ‘I’m as angry at the taxi driver as with the police.
‘How did it not cross his mind that this guy, covered in dark clothes and a mask at 4am, waving around expensive tools, might be up to no good?
‘The police said the thief could have told them that his van had broke down and he needed them for work. I mean, come on. Who’s going to believe that?’.
Mr Hardy, who has a spinal condition and requires his specialist tools to avoid bending, called police after waking up on New Year’s Eve to discover his van had been targeted.
He said: ‘I opened the door and my heart sank. It was just empty.
‘I have a bladder issue so I carry a jerry can with me, just in case of emergencies. That was the only thing he left.
‘He literally left me just a pot to p**s in.
‘I phoned the police who told me they were aware of a spate of thefts in the area but told me over the phone to counter my expectations.
Furious victim Phil Hardy, 44, from Anlaby (pictured), near Hull , East Yorks, said: ‘This case should not need Sherlock Holmes to solve it’
‘The words were “I can pretty much tell you now, nothing’s going to come of it”.
‘I was annoyed but I wasn’t surprised because my previous experiences with the police haven’t been great.
‘I was assaulted last year and it took them seven months to take a statement from me.
‘A few years ago, I was followed by an unmarked police car for three miles and blocked in just to be told that my indicators were “more peach than orange”.
‘So, I didn’t have a lot of faith in them to begin with, to be honest.’
Humberside Police sent two officers to Phil’s terraced house who began conducting door-to-door enquiries and retrieved CCTV footage of the brazen crook making his repeated trips.
But he has since heard nothing from detectives and fears his tools are now ‘long gone’.
Mr Hardy said: ‘It was brazen as hell to do that in the dead of night. He was walking down the road casual as you like, as if it was his own stuff.
‘Sadly, it’s just the way of the world – if someone wants your stuff, they’ll take it and as a rule, there’s naff all you can do about.
‘And when you need the police to help, you get nowhere.
‘The whole thing has left me wondering what exactly are the police’s priorities?
‘They just don’t seem to care – like it’s not important enough for them.
‘But this is my life and my livelihood that’s been stolen.
‘In the meantime, this thief will keep on doing it because he knows he can get away with it.’
Mr Hardy, who carried out landscaping work for predominantly elderly customers and the local methodist church, said the ordeal had now left him ‘stuck in limbo’.
He said: ‘It started as a father and son business, which we built up from scratch. I’m just a small businessman trying to make my way in the world.
‘I do honest work for an honest price. I just charge what I need to, to get by – not what I think I can get away with.
‘Most of my customers are elderly and I do a bit of work for the church.
‘It’s not a huge business – but without my tools I’m stuck in limbo. I can’t work because I’ve got no tools, and I can’t replace them because I can’t work.
‘I’ve tried to get a bank loan but because I’m self-employed with a low turnover, the computer says no.
‘So my choices are to either buy replacement tools on a credit card and be forever paying back, or just collapse and go and work for somebody else.’
Phil’s sister Suzie Hardy set up a GoFundMe appeal to help replace the stolen tools, also including a backpack blower and a Stihl Kombi System, with more than £1,180 raised so far.
She wrote on the site: ‘Taking a new opportunity after redundancy during COVID and needing an income for himself and his son, my brother decided to follow his dream of working for himself.
‘Starting small as a handyman, they worked incredibly hard, often doing low-cost jobs for friends and neighbours, gradually building up his skills, tools, and reputation. Over time, he created a successful dad and son local gardening business called Elemental Creations.
‘Unfortunately, in the early hours of December 31, he was robbed, and a total scumbag stole his entire collection of specialist gardening tools, CCTV has caught him doing 5x trips!
‘These are tools Phil’s spent nearly £10,000 on over the years. The police recognise the thief, and have linked it to a string of thefts in the area, but sadly, there’s little chance of recovering what was taken.
‘Without these tools, he simply can’t work or make a living.’
She added: ‘Phil’s more reliant on power tools than potentially other gardeners as he’s had back surgery and can’t bend very well.
‘Whilst it’ll take a lot more to replace everything, we’re hoping to raise about £1500 which we hope is enough to start to replace the most essential ones—a Kombi unit, a strimmer, a leaf blower and vacuum, and a hedge trimmer—even if it’s second-hand equipment, so he can get back on his feet and start earning again while rebuilding his collection over time.’