A man from Plumstead, who has been jailed for a spate of burglaries across London, was caught by police partly because he wore a distinctive t-shirt.
Richard Shelley, 38, was jailed for five years at Southwark Crown Court earlier this month.
He committed 11 burglaries between January 2013 and June 2015, with a focus on stealing laptops and computer equipment from schools.
Shelley, of Griffin Manor Way, was caught after the Metropolitan Police combined the skills of super recognisers with computer analysis of the suspect's t-shirt.
Whilst carrying out the burglaries across London, Shelley had been pictured in CCTV from a number of crime scenes.
The Met’s super recognisers unit used specialist software to identify suspect images which resembled that of Shelley.
And through analysing the CCTV, officers realised that he regularly wore a shirt with a distinctive logo.
Officers were then able to run suspect images through logo recognition software in order to discover more offences he had committed whilst wearing the distinctive t-shirt.
The facial recognition identifications made by the recognisers combined with the logo recognition searches resulted in the 11 convictions for buglary.
When arrested Shelley was already serving a suspended sentence for burglary.
Detective Sergeant Eliot Porritt of the Super Recognisers Unit said: "Shelley has demonstrated that he is a habitual burglar.
“The distress and inconvenience caused to the owners, service users and employees at the venues he targeted is immeasurable. We are delighted that the communities of London will not be subjected to his criminal activities for some time."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel