Footage has emerged of another brazen burglary by a violent 'traveller gang' linked to more than 50 break-ins across London and the Home Counties.
The Daily Mail revealed yesterday how balaclava-clad 'burglary squads' have been smashing their way into as many as 15 homes a night before making off with luxury watches, jewellery, cash, cars and even entire safes.
CCTV and Ring doorbell footage shows three masked burglars battering their way into a home in Muswell Hill, north London, before making off with a safe.
As with other break-ins linked to the gang, they appear to use crowbars and brute force to smash through the front door. They also seem to be speaking with Irish accents.
One of the criminals can be heard referring to another member of the trio as 'Chris'.
The Met Police stands accused of failing to tackle the mob, which has been targeting wealthy neighbourhoods since early September and is said to include convicted criminals freed from prison under Labour's early release scheme.
David McKelvey, a former Met detective chief inspector who now runs private investigations company TM Eye, went public about the burglary spree over fears the crime was 'no longer being treated as a policing priority'.
He believes the gang is made up of Irish Travellers operating in at least three separate teams of three or four men. The group is said to have been targeting as many as 15 properties a day, excluding Sundays, before returning to traveller sites.
Two members of a suspected traveller burglary gang smash down the front door of a home in Muswell Hill, north London
As with previous break-ins, the men appear to use crowbars and brute force to smash through the front door
One of the masked men leaving the property - seemingly ignoring an Amazon parcel by the front door
Burglars struck the Muswell Hill home at 6.57pm on September 18.
A 28-year-old man who lives at the property with his mother received footage of the break-in via a Ring doorbell alert on his phone and called police but the men were in and out in less than four minutes.
They are seen arriving and leaving in a car believed to be a Toyota Camry dating from the mid-2010s, a relatively rare model.
The homeowner, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, said she and her son had been left deeply shaken by the ordeal, telling the Daily Mail: 'My son is autistic and I care for him. I was confident about leaving him in the house alone, but this has shaken him so much that I don't do that anymore.
'These men are absolutely brazen. These aren't the burglars of old who would sneak in and steal a VCR. They're violent men who force their way in regardless of whether anyone is home - children, dogs, anyone.
'They're striking early in the evening when people are still out and about. There were pedestrians walking past our house just ten minutes beforehand, and cars driving by while they were inside.'
The woman said two community police officers visited shortly after the break-in and spoke to her son.
She claims she has not received an update since and accused the Met of failing to take the incident seriously enough.
'They provided a crime reference number and a leaflet, but I haven't heard from them since. They didn't even leave a name.
'Forensics officers arrived 28 hours later, by which time I had already had to secure the property because the front door had been smashed open.
'Everyone is scared. The police don't appear to think violent home invasions are worth properly investigating.
'We feel unsafe in our own homes and are left feeling like sitting ducks.'
Mr McKelvey believes the Muswell Hill burglary was carried out by the same gang his team is investigating.
'They carried out 15 burglaries and home invasions in a single night and 50 in the space of two weeks,' he said.
'They were chased by police on Saturday night and have been lying low since.'
The men appeared in a car, believed to be a mid-2010s Toyota Camry - a relatively rare model
One of the gang running out of the house in north London carrying a safe
A close-up video still showing one of the men's faces. He is seen wearing a face mask with camouflage patterning
The raids have been concentrated in affluent areas of north London, including Hampstead and Highgate, as well as parts of Hertfordshire.
Mr McKelvey suspects some gang members include men convicted of burglary after his investigators passed intelligence to police in 2022 and 2023.
Two of the suspects are believed to have convictions for similar offences as recently as 2024, while another is thought to be a man who absconded from an open prison earlier this year, according to Mr McKelvey.
One of the first raids linked to the gang took place on September 11, when burglars broke into a Highgate property occupied by a mother and her children.
There were five burglaries or attempted burglaries in the Highgate area on September 30 and a further two the previous night.
Another break-in captured on video took place in nearby Grange Park, Enfield, on October 2.
The clip begins with a lone man smashing the front door four times with a crowbar, sending shards of glass flying. He appears to reach through the shattered panel to open the door from the inside, but fails.
A second man then appears and sprays the doorstep before being joined by a third. The trio take turns kicking the door until it finally caves in. A dog can be heard barking as they burst inside.
They arrived in a blue BMW fitted with fake number plates.
Mr McKelvey's private security company, My Local Bobby, a sister firm to TM Eye, carries out residential patrols in many of the areas targeted by the gang.
In two cases, suspects fled after his operatives arrived, while in a third they ran off after being confronted by the homeowner.
Video stills from an earlier burglary believed to have been carried out by the same gang
One of the men that took part in the raid on a home in Enfield wielding a crowbar
TM Eye has linked the gang to six stolen vehicles. The group is understood to begin journeys in legitimate taxed and insured cars before switching to stolen vehicles fitted with cloned registration plates to carry out the raids.
Mr McKelvey has criticised the decision to disband the Met's dedicated burglary squads to 'bolster overstretched units elsewhere'.
A Met spokesman said when contacted about the Enfield break-in: 'We recognise the significant impact that burglary offences have on victims and we treat offences of this nature extremely seriously. We are committed to identifying offenders and disrupting organised criminality.
'Experienced detectives use a range of investigative techniques to bring offenders to justice. We regularly work with other forces to identify individuals and groups who commit offences across county borders.
'Officers are actively investigating a number of burglaries and attempted burglaries reported across north London in September and October, assessing all available evidence and intelligence to determine whether the incidents are linked. We would urge anyone with information that could assist our investigation to contact us on 101.'
No injuries were reported in relation to the burglaries and there have been no arrests.
A spokesman for Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: 'Every Londoner deserves to feel safe in their home.
'Burglaries are down 31 per cent since 2016 and the Mayor continues to support the Met with record funding to boost neighbourhood policing, and help the Met to do everything they can to tackle organised crime and make London safer for everyone.'
The Met has been contacted about the Muswell Hill burglary on September 18.