Toowoomba’s dumb crims fail at two break-ins in one night

Three crims smashed windows at two Toowoomba stores but walked away empty-handed, despite being aided by a stolen 4WD.

In a classic example of crime not paying, three criminals came away empty-handed after they pulled the doors off a Toowoomba motorbike dealership.

CCTV footage shows three bumbling criminals clad in hoodies and face masks reversing up to the Queensland Bike & 4WD dealership on Carrington Road about 2am yesterday.

They wait patiently in a stolen 2004 Toyota LandCruiser for a truck to pass before two get out with a set of ratchet straps and a crowbar.

One of the thieves smashes two holes in the glass door while the second loops the straps around the LandCruiser’s tow ball.

Kerrod Morrissy said a sturdy set of steel bars twice saved his family’s business, Queensland Bike & 4WD, from thieves. Picture: Nev Madsen.

The third criminal floors it and pulls the door from the building while the remaining pair realises that their efforts had come to nothing.

A set of sturdy, Toowoomba-made steel bars remained in place, preventing their entry, so they pile into the LandCruiser and flee empty-handed.

Kerrod Morrissy’s family owns the dealership, and he praised the work of the Toowoomba fabricators at Pengelly Trucks and Trailers who installed the steel bars in the showroom windows.

“We have been broken into twice in two weeks, and both times the bar work has saved us,” he said.

Mr Morrissy said he placed several new-model bikes in the showroom, and he assumed the intruders were after them.

“That or anything they could get their hands on and ride out the door.”

The LandCruiser is linked to several offences after it was stolen from a Rockville address on July 1.

A Queensland Police Service spokesman said investigators suspect it was also used in an earlier failed burglary at the Biddeston Store shortly after midnight yesterday.

Several yet-to-be identified thieves smashed a glass window to gain entry to the store, the spokesman said.

The ruckus woke the store owner, and he found them trying to open the cigarette cupboard.

Anyone with information about the offences or who observes a white LandCruiser (QLD rego 080XHV), should phone Policelink on 131 444 or 1800 333 000.