'Ex-soldier' raiding Home Counties houses at gunpoint

A highly professional burglar with a military background is suspected of carrying out series of violent house burglaries across south-east England.

The man stakes out expensive Home Counties properties, armed with a sawn-off shotgun, and knows their exact layout and location of safes by the time he strikes, Surrey Police said.

He has taken jewellery, watches and heirlooms worth about £1m.

Police said he may be "ex-military" and possesses "specialist skills".

An appeal has now gone out from four police forces after raids across Berkshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex between November 2014 and October 2017.

Det Insp Dee Fielding, who is leading the investigation, said the man strikes approximately every six months and is not "an opportunist burglar".

"This is absolutely not an amateur," she said. "He stakes out these houses over a number of days, sometimes for a couple of weeks. We can see that on CCTV he is hiding in gardens - he's looking at houses to establish what the routines are of those within the premises.

"The skills that he's using includes carrying a firearm. He uses cable-ties to tie up the occupants of the house. When he enters a house where he knows he is going to be outnumbered he still has the confidence and the ability to overpower those people.

"We believe, based on this, that he may be ex-military or certainly has specialist skills from some sort of [similar] background.

One victim, Susan Morris, 61, said: "He knew exactly how hard to hit me. He hit me three times on my face, it was very painful, I couldn't believe the blows kept coming."

Mrs Morris said during the raid at her home in Kingswood, Surrey, in October, the man pointed a gun in her back, hit her head against a wall and dragged her across the floor by her hair.

All the while he kept demanding more jewellery.

Mrs Morris said at one point she could not get a ring and bracelet off, and added: "I actually thought 'he's going to cut my finger off'."

When her husband returned home from work, he found her still tied up with cables and hiding in a bedroom.

Describing the man, she said: "I would say he spoke well, he had no accent, he didn't have bad grammar, he's an intelligent man, he knows how to assess the situation and carry this out."

Police believe the man may be ex-military because of his levels of preparation and his "well-spoken, intelligent" language and manner but they have said he could be a current member of the armed forces or law enforcement.

Officers said he operates alone, speaks little, threatens to kill people and their dogs and is "incredibly decisive".

On each occasion, the man has used "unnecessary levels of violence", police said.

Det Insp Fielding said whereas most people would need two hands to use a cable tie, this man is able to tie people up using one hand even while they are struggling.

The man is thought to have got into houses before the raids to better understand the layout, and has been seen on CCTV staking out targets.

Police say they are looking for someone who may seem to have money disproportionate to their job, and might be travelling or away for long periods of time.