No clean getaway! British family catch cleaner stealing their property – and hiding it in her BRA – after setting up secret camera in their four-star Benidorm hotel room
A brazen cleaner was caught stuffing valuables in her bra while cleaning a British family’s room at a four-star hotel in Benidorm – after they set a cunning trap to catch her in the act.
Alastair and Sue Conner spent £5,500 on the all-inclusive package holiday, which saw them stay at the Magic Natura Resort in Benidorm with their 15-year-old son Jack in September.
But after cigarette packs and perfume bottles reportedly started disappearing, the family from Stockton, Durham took swift action and installed secret cameras in their room to help solve the mystery.
Determined to catch the thief red-handed, the couple took pictures of their belongings before leaving the next day, and Alastair hid his laptop on the dressing table, ready to shoot.
The parents of three couldn’t believe their eyes as the footage appeared to capture their cleaner rummaging through their belongings and apparently pocketing perfume and cigarettes as he cleaned their room the next day.
Alastair and Sue Conner, from Stockton, traveled to Benidorm, Spain, with their 15-year-old son and were shocked to find their personal belongings missing
A woman, believed to be the cleaning lady, was seen searching the couple’s bags
‘We bought 400 cigarettes on the plane and within a week all the cigarettes were gone. I thought something was wrong,” Sue Conner said
Video footage shows a woman wearing white overalls entering the room and heading towards a pile of bags in the corner.
She then goes to look around the bed before the video cuts off.
The woman is then seen looking into the room through a white shopping bag, before taking out what appears to be a pack of cigarettes and putting it in her pocket.
Later, the woman is seen coming out of another room and appears to be stuffing something down her shirt.
The couple believe around €750 worth of items were taken from their hotel room, including €385 in cash, €100 in perfume and 260 cigarettes.
Sue, a 53-year-old finance director, said: ‘When we got back to the room I noticed things were missing, my bags had shifted and I thought someone had been in my underwear drawer.
‘So we decided to install some cameras, but the batteries didn’t last long. We thought something was definitely going on.
‘A lot of stuff has been moved. We ended up taking pictures when we went out to show what the room was like and when we came back we noticed my bags had been moved. This had been going on since almost day one. Things were out of place.
‘I had just bought a new bottle of Gucci perfume at the airport and it was gone.
‘We bought 400 cigarettes on the plane and within a week all the cigarettes were gone. I thought something was wrong.
“And our son Jack said his clothes had been moved into the wardrobe. He had a necklace with a gold pendant with a ring on it and it was gone. Money, cigarettes, perfume, it was all gone.’
After setting up a secret recording system to discover what was going on, the couple returned from lunch to review the footage.
And the shocked couple, who booked their holiday through Jet2, couldn’t believe their eyes as they watched a worker search their luggage for valuables before putting some items in her pocket.
Alastair, 47, said: ‘It wasn’t until the end of the holidays that I thought I would set up my laptop.
‘The first day we didn’t get anything because it was a different cleaner than two days before we were due to leave, we went for lunch, came back and I checked my laptop and we had caught her.
‘We never expected an employee to rob us. I went from excitement to disbelief.
‘I couldn’t believe what I saw. I was disgusted.’
Sue added: “I was mortified. She went through our private drawers. We felt violated.”
Alastair said: ‘We just spent £5,500 on a holiday we didn’t even enjoy.’
In later footage, she appeared to be stuffing something into her top. The family says that 100 euros worth of perfume has disappeared
Alastair (L) had the idea to set up his laptop to record the room to catch the thief in the act
A spokesperson for Jet2 said: ‘We are extremely sorry and disappointed to hear about this experience, and understand that the hotel has taken appropriate action with the member of staff in question.
‘We have since been in contact with Mr and Mrs Conner to apologize and make a fitting gesture of goodwill.’
Jet2 offered the couple ‘a fitting gesture of goodwill’, but the couple say they were only offered the €750 that was allegedly stolen and will not accept anything less than a full refund.
Magic Natura and the Spanish police have been contacted for comment.