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Criminologist Professor David Wilson discusses how virtually our every move is covered by CCTV and if we commit a crime in public we are almost certain to be caught on camera doing it.

Investigative journalist Fiona Walker presents a short film about the infamous Ibrox Heist in 1955, when a gang of four hijacked a bank security van and made off with £40,000 (£1 million in today’s money). Initially the police were baffled but then attempted something that had never been done before: they made a TV appeal and incredibly got a result that led to the conviction of the heist gang.

Fiona joins David in the studio and they discuss the evolution of the police TV appeal to the advent of Crimewatch, which led to the conviction of over a hundred murderers and rapists. They also highlight the 21st-century world of CCTV, dashcam footage and social media as tools that instantly give police investigations access to huge volumes of information.

David’s Scottish crime fiction author in this episode is Christopher Brookmyre, creator of unorthodox journalist Jack Parlabane, whose latest outing centres on computer hacking and the idea of the hack as a digital heist. They also chat about Chris’s new sci-fi crime novel - or ‘space noir’ as they dub it - in which the author imagines a future where every conversation and every act is recorded and what implications that will have for the regulation of criminal behaviour.

David then presents a short film about a jewellery raid that took place in Glasgow’s Argyll Arcade in 2014 when, in a matter of seconds, four masked men seized £250,000 of jewels and watches in a meticulously planned smash-and-grab operation. However, not only did CCTV chart their movements and frantic getaway through the city, but members of the public filmed the heist on mobile phones and posted the footage online.

In the studio, David speaks with DCI Andrew Edwards who led the investigation into the Argyll Arcade Raid and discusses how the advent of surveillance cameras allow police to build a timeline of events much more quickly than traditional policing would and how all forms of social media now play a vital role in crime detection.

David’s final guest on Crime Files is Tam Carrigan, a former armed bank robber who discusses his descent into crime and what it’s like to walk into a bank and demand money at the point of a gun. He gives both a gripping and disturbing blow-by-blow account of what it’s like to be involoved in a heist. Tam also gives deeply personal insight into the consequences and regrets he has about his life of crime: the wasted years in prison, the realisation that he was no Robin Hood character but a man who had deeply traumatised people and ruined lives.