Two bungling thieves stole a huge gorilla statue from an indoor market before being arrested by police just minutes later.
Brian Rumley, 50, and Michael O’Brien, 52, were seen stumbling through Darlington town centre, County Durham, carrying the £399 ornament while passing cans of beer back and forth.
CCTV footage shows the thieves clearly stealing the gorilla and struggling to carry it across town to a nearby flat – before police turned up just three minutes later.
Unbeknownst to the men, the market’s CCTV footage was being monitored in real time and this allowed officers to trace the offenders straight to the flat, where the gorilla was recovered unharmed.
A search carried out by police uncovered the £399 ornament hidden in a bedroom.
CCTV footage from the market depicts one of the men entering the indoor market and initially struggling to find the gorilla.
‘There’s nee gorilla here man,’ he says, while the second can be heard shouting: ‘That shop there’.
As the man flees the market through open doors, he stops to scoop up a can of beer he had left outside, before joining his accomplice and heading away from the scene.
Brian Rumley, 50, and Michael O’Brien, 52, were seen stumbling through Darlington town centre, County Durham, carrying the £399 ornament while passing cans of beer back and forth
CCTV footage shows the thieves clearly stealing the gorilla and struggling to carry it across town to a nearby flat – before police turned up just three minutes later
The pair were seen walking through Darlington town centre with the gorilla shortly after 11.30pm last Tuesday
Rumley and O’Brien appeared to have been drinking before the theft and were seen with cans of beer
Police officers from Durham Constabulary arrested the men and successfully recovered the gorilla unharmed
Both wore grey tracksuits, dark coats and trainers, and the man carrying the statue under his arm slowed his getaway somewhat by having to put the gorilla down to readjust his grip.
Police bodycam footage then shows officers entering the nearby flat to find both men smoking and still drinking beer.
Rumley and O’Brien were arrested after the incident just after 11.30pm last Tuesday.
Police officers were filmed carrying the gorilla safely to the back of a police car after the pair were detained.
Both men admitted burglary at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court on Thursday.
Rumley, of no fixed abode, was jailed for 16 weeks while O’Brien, of Arcadia Court, Darlington, was handed three months suspended for a year.
In a victim impact statement, the business owner said that earlier that day, a man had attended to haggle the price of the gorilla down.
He said: ‘It seems strange to me that the same day that the gorilla has been stolen, someone has shown a great deal of interest in trying to buy the item.
‘When items of this price are stolen it causes a massive loss to the business. A lot of stress and anxiety builds up as a result of these incidents and can lead to a great sense of mistrust.’
