Christchurch flatmates track down stolen goods after robbery

The three flatmates came home to find their house ransacked. Photo / Supplied

By RNZ

Three Christchurch flatmates have become amateur detectives tracking down and reclaiming a trolley load of belongings stolen from their house in a burglary.

The Waltham flatmates, two from a small Scottish village and the other from Northern Ireland, came home last week to find their place ransacked and a number of items stolen. They called the police, but, after a tip-off from a neighbour, decided to take on the case themselves.

One of the flatmates, Sarah Campbell, told RNZ she found the house where the thieves had taken the trolley, and phoned the other flatmates to meet her at the address.

“The girls came round and one lady walked out of the house, kitted out in Charlotte’s [one of the flatmates] clothes. She’s got the cameras strapped on, Charlotte’s lovely Uggs.

“So the two girls went and basically removed all the items from her, and I went into the house to find a couple of men and another lady rifling through our underwear and things.”

Campbell said the trio then decided to try the “good cop, bad cop” method.

“The two girls, they’re strong, powerful women and they went for that bad cop, ‘Look, give us the stuff back, don’t mess’. And I went for the ‘pretend to be best pals with the criminals, cosy in and then sneak everything out’.”

While turning up at a potential criminal’s house might fill some with dread, Campbell said their “hardcore accents from the backwaters of Scotland”, with Charlotte’s Northern Irish accent meant “people aren’t messing when they hear our voices”.

“Even the hardest criminals, they’re going to be running.”

Campbell said the residents at the house immediately gave their stuff back, and they even unscrewed their rings from the fingers of the thieves.

“They just rolled over for us.”

Among the stolen goods the trio recovered were passports, sentimental jewellery, items from grandparents, laptops and even medication.

When they returned home with the stolen goods, Campbell said the police were “kind of eyes-wide-open that we’d done our own search and recovery”.

And while they didn’t receive a telling off from the police for undertaking their own detective work, the police did say their methods were “very unconventional”.

Campbell also said the local community has helped since the robbery.

“I’ve had colleagues offer me their husbands, their dogs, their homes, their cameras, you name it.”

While the trio is in New Zealand on work visas, the incident had not given a dim view of Aotearoa.

“We just love New Zealand. We love Fairlie pies, Kiwi dip, the Kumara races, Dave Dobbyn. It’s a slice of heaven here.

“It is traumatising, it is shaking, but we’re grateful and thankful for good Kiwis.”

While most of the items were recovered, Campbell said one yellow Croc is missing, and offered a reward if it is found.

“Your next pie is on us.”

Police said there were a number of burglaries on Campbell’s street on the same day, and advise to always put your safety first and call 111 if you’re concerned for your safety.

- RNZ