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Rui Garcia

PICTURED: Rui Garcia, head of La Ciabatta, caught the man who burgled his cafe

EXCLUSIVE BY:

Matthew Dresch

Have-a-go hero cafe manager catches burglar just hours after raid

A HAVE-A-GO hero cafe manager caught the man who burgled his business after chasing him across Catford. 

Rui Garcia, 50, the head of La Ciabatta, in Rushey Green, Catford, immediately recognised John Roe when he saw him walk past his cafe just hours after watching CCTV of the burglary.

Mr Garcia chased Roe, 56, of Catford, down twice before he finally managed to catch him on his third pursuit. 

Mr Garcia told the Lewisham Letter: “It was a one in a million chance.

“I found him, not once, not twice but three times. It was so odd.

John Roe
PICTURED: John Roe has been jailed for raiding La Ciabatta

“I found him outside the PFC Catford chicken shop, then I found him at Milford Towers and then I found him outside Nandos.”

Roe managed to get into the cafe by squeezing through a gap in a tiny window in the kitchen. He then stole bottles of booze, a £1,000 laptop and various other items from Mr Garcia’s cafe in the early hours of March 25.

CCTV shows the burglar rifling through the rucksack of Mr Garcia’s daughter as he raids the cafe.

He also took a laptop belonging to Mr Garcia’s son and his daughter’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi.

Rui Garcia
PICTURED: Mr Garcia recognised Roe from his CCTV footage

Explaining how he caught him, Mr Garcia said: “I was in the cafe and through the window I saw him coming out of the alleyway opposite with a trolley. I recognised him from the CCTV.

“He had the same clothes, the same bags that he stole from here and he was limping like the man in the CCTV. I thought I would go and see if it was him. But by the time I got outside the shop, he had gone.

“I then went up the street and found him outside PFC in Nelgarde Road. I could see the bottles he had stolen from me in his trolley. I rang the police but he quickly realised I was talking to them and ran away.

John Roe
PICTURED: Roe was filmed rifling through a rucksack belonging to Mr Garcia’s daughter

“I chased after him and saw him ring the bell of someone in Milford Towers. I saw him get in the lift and go up to the fifth floor. 

“A friend of mine who lives in Milford Towers got me in and we went up to the fifth floor in the lift. From the fifth floor I could see the burglar on the 4th floor with the trolley.

“He then saw me again and ran away, leaving his trolley behind. I went down to the fourth floor but he escaped again.

Rui Garcia
PICTURED: Roe stole Mr Garcia’s £1,000 laptop in the burglary

“I then went to some of the local pawn shops and told them about the stolen laptops and asked them to keep an eye out for me. But as I was coming back I saw him again on Wildfell Road.

“I saw him go down an alleyway with another guy. I decided to stand on the corner of Nandos and called the police while watching the alleyway.

“The police then arrived and went down the alleyway and grabbed him.”

Mr Garcia showed the officers the CCTV footage of Roe to prove he was the same man who burgled his cafe. He praised the police for their rapid response.

Remarkably, Roe came to Mr Garcia’s cafe a few days later when he was out on bail and attempted to convince him to drop the charges – offering him a new laptop.

However, Mr Garcia refused, explaining that his old laptop was priceless as it had lots of his business documents on it and family photographs. 

Roe, who has a lengthy criminal record which includes 12 previous burglaries, was jailed for 12 months at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday.


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