TV taught thieves how to break-in, says businessman

A used car salesman believes thieves used a TV programme to learn skills that helped them break into his car yard and incapacitate his guard dog.

Bradley Tunnell's Tremaine Auto Sales in Palmerston North was broken into on Sunday night.

Thieves smashed windows in eight cars to steal stereos. A set of chrome mag wheels was also taken. The total value of the loss and damage was around $7000.

Mr Tunnell said the thieves poisoned his site guard dog with bacon bones. There was a similar scenario on TV2's To Catch A Thief programme last week and he believed the thieves got tips from the show.

"A few weeks before, I had the fence cut but nothing taken, and I think the dog barked and deterred them," he said.

"I really believe the people who broke in here got tips from that TV programme and they came back and dealt with the dog."

The bull mastiff-rhodesian ridgeback cross ran free in the yard at night and usually bounded out to meet Mr Tunnell in the morning, but stayed in his kennel when he arrived yesterday. Bacon bones were found nearby.

"I can't believe that they're teaching an average Joe how to be a thief and training them in things that you'd only learn from other criminals."

Rudy the dog was taken to the vet and was recovering. Diagnosis of what laid him low was uncertain.

Television New Zealand rejected the suggestion the programme encouraged or gave burglars new skills.

A spokeswoman said To Catch a Thief was definitely not a "how to" of burglary, but a show about how to protect yourself from burglars.

She said there were 60,000 burglaries every year and there were no new techniques shown by the television show.

Some car yard owners exasperated by burglaries have together offered a $10,000 reward to help catch the crooks.

- nzpa