Named after Carisbrooke Castle, The Castle Inn on Newport High Street is the second oldest pub on the Island, dating back to 1550 when it had a reputation for thieves and vagabonds.

Exactly a year ago, on August 17, the pub was burgled, with £150 cash and bottles of alcohol stolen.

Now, the details of the crime have been broadcast through Dom Littlewood’s Caught Red Handed, with Dom describing the burglary as ‘a big news story on a small Island’.

The Castle Inn on Newport High Street.

The episode shows how CCTV captured a hooded figure after he got through the back gate at 2am and attempted to get past the locked cellar door, using brute force to break the lock, but failing to get through.

Camera footage captured the man using a ladder to access a loft hatch to get inside.
Pub landlords Simon Cant and Liam White discovered in the morning that the pub had been broken into.

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Speaking on the BBC show, Liam said: “It was a real panic. I’ve never felt that state of worry or panic in my life.

“It’s just a real draining feeling to watch somebody wondering around what we consider a second home.”

CCTV images shared by The Castle Inn pub.

The hooded man found himself in the upstairs office and stole all the notes from the staff tip pot, totalling around £150, and before leaving, helped himself to bottles of spirits, including Jack Daniels, Disaronno and Vodka, worth £80.

He also caused significant damage inside the pub during his 50 minutes inside, leaving Simon and Liam with an expensive repair bill.

Kyle, supervisor at The Castle, said: “It was really devastating to find out that the tips had been taken because we work so hard for it.”

Simon and Liam replaced the tip money from their own pocket.

However, the burglar failed to spot a CCTV camera at the beginning of the break-in and removed his hood.

Liam added: “He didn’t wear gloves, I mean, I’m not a criminal myself, but I’ve watched enough films to know that’s pretty standard in burglary 101!”

Simon Cant (left) and Liam White (right) after becoming the pub's new landlords in 2018.

Isle of Wight Police needed to get a forensics team over from the mainland, which would have taken a few days, meaning Simon and Liam would have had to keep the pub closed until evidence was gathered.

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Liam said: “If we didn’t carry on, we were letting him win.”

Over the phone, police coached them in professional CSI techniques to preserve evidence.

“We were in constant contact with the police throughout the day”, Liam told the BBC.

“They said bag up what you can, look through CCTV, see what he touched, everything that you can freely move.”

Small items he touched, like the locks and tip box, were bagged up ready for the police to examine.

Police also permitted the landlords to post the image of the unhooded man online to activate the Island’s grapevine in the hope of identifying him.

Kyle said: “Everyone knows everyone, so you can’t do something in Ryde without Yarmouth hearing about it two minutes later.”

One name kept coming up, and Simon and Liam fed this information to the police, who later told them they had brought a man in for questioning.

Their careful gathering of evidence had paid off, as forensic results confirming that the same man’s fingerprints were on the staff’s tip jar.

Liam said: “It was incredible. All the pieces had come together to give us the outcome we got. It gave us closure.”

What happened next?

Harry Mortram, 19 at the time, of George Street, Ryde, admitted the burglary.

He was given a 12-month community order to include 80 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £630 compensation.

• Read more: CCTV footage helps bring Castle Inn burglar to justice

After the burglary, the pub’s security was upgraded and turned The Castle into afortress, “a tank would struggle to break through our door”, Liam said.

He continued: “If any positive was to be taken from this experience, it would be the overwhelming amount of community spirit and the amount of love we received.

“We always dreamt of owning a pub, and nothing is going to prevent us carrying on that dream.”

See the full Caught Red Handed episode (series 10, ep.11) on BBC iPlayer HERE.