Image via manchestereveningnews.co.uk
You’re meant to ESCAPE not break in (Facepalm!)
These guys have been dubbed the ‘stupidest burglars in Manchester’ after they broke into the popular Lucardo Escape Rooms on Great Ancoats Street in the centre of Manchester during the early hours of last Thursday morning.
Director of Lucardo Ian Pownall said: “They must be Manchester’s stupidest burglars. They were opening every drawer in there looking for cash. They couldn’t get through the locks so they had a drill and were unscrewing panels off their hinges.”
“It’s as if they thought it was a real bank.”
The bungling duo were caught red handed on the premises which has up to 50 CCTV cameras presumably to monitor the progress of paying punters escape progress. It’s Saturday morning cartoon levels of stupidity, I’m surprised they weren’t wearing striped suits with sacks reading ‘SWAG’ printed on them.
In the footage it appears that one of the men is wearing a balaclava and the other an Anonymous mask. But Tweedle-dumber lifts the mask to reveal his face to the camera, not so anonymous after all.
They smashed their way through three sets of doors to gain entry to the area known as ‘Gem Runner’, an attraction that leads players around a mock bank to escape with a diamond in an hour.
CCTV footage which captures them the muppets shows them going around the mock bank breaking into fake safes and busting locks to cupboards and drawers containing nothing more than puzzles.
or of Lucardo Ian Pownall went on to say: “But obviously there was nothing inside them just puzzles.”
“Maybe they hadn’t been in an escape room before or didn’t know what one was, but they looked completely bemused.”
“There’s certainly an irony to it.”
Not only do the police have a good amount of CCTV footage to identify the calamitous culprits, one of them took a can of coke from a fridge and left it part drunk which police hope will provide some DNA evidence.
Image via manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Cost of the Crime
Around £100 in cash was stolen and the Lucardo bosses estimate that around £1,000 of damage has been caused. They expect to lose a further £1,000 in revenue after having to cancel bookings and close the following day.
Ian, 26, a director of the business said the burglary would have a big impact on their independent business, at a crucial time of year, with the attraction being popular with Christmas parties.
He said: “Locking things up our profession so we’re pretty good at it, and we thought we were pretty secure. But they’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to get in. They’ve got through three big doors.
“Obviously we’re gutted and really angry about it. It’s not really about the cash or even the damage, it’s the effect on business.”
“We’ve had to cancel bookings today and will now have to beef up security even more.”
“We’re not a big corporation, we’re a small, family owned business so even a couple of thousand pounds will have an effect on us, particularly before Christmas.”
Let’s hope these idiots are caused before they can do anymore damage to any other businesses. Anyone with information can contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Check out the CCTV footage:
Let us know what you think of these crappy cat burglars in the comments below. (I know they aren’t technically cat burglars but I enjoy alliteration ok). Why not have a peep at this crime story.
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