Cheeky crook calls cab
2008-01-21 19:08
London - A British burglary victim voiced disbelief on Monday at a thief's "unbelievable" cheek in calling a taxi from her ransacked home to make his getaway.
Cardiff Crown Court jailed Gareth Waith, 22, for three years after he admitted stealing £3 500 worth of goods from neighbour Katie Battiscombe's house in the Welsh capital when everyone was out.
Having stuffed cellphones, a DVD player, a laptop computer, a television and computer games into a holdall and some refuse bags in the Halloween raid last October, the burglar then used the house phone to call a cab.
"I couldn't stop laughing when I found out," Battiscombe, 24, told the South Wales Echo regional newspaper.
"The nerve of some people is just unbelievable.
"The thought of him calling a taxi from my house phone and then just sitting on my wall with all my stuff, waiting for it to arrive, is just ridiculous."
Waith was caught, having left fingerprints behind.
Mohammed Javaid, of the Hackney Taxi Society, said: "This seems most bizarre and it's the first time I have ever heard of a thief getting away in a taxi.
"I have seen this sort of thing in the movies but I can't believe someone had the gall to do it in real life."