T’was the day before the end of the Claygate Christmas break, and little stirred in the peaceful Weald of Kent.
The company helicopter had to be taken to Redhill for maintenance and with a clear blue sky stretching as far as the eye could see, it seemed the perfect day for a flight across the glorious Kent countryside!

Along with my buddy, Martin Marsh, we took off and I decided to fly over Claygate’s land. For some time now, we have been babysitting about a dozen Jacobs sheep, 1 Ram and 2 Llamas, who potter quite happily over our 10 acres, along with Percy the Goose and several ducks. All of this is fenced off from the helipad, and our very posh red brick car park which sits at the front of our lovely new, purpose-built distribution centre and offices.

As we flew over, I noticed the Claygate Animals romping free in the car park (and to add insult to injury, making a fine old mess of our car park). I had no idea how the animals had got through the latched gate, but decided they needed to be put back in their field asap. I decided to land, and rotors still running, Martin was despatched to round them up and lock them back where they belonged. Within seconds, he came charging back waving his hands in the air like a man possessed, directing me to come and look at something. Leaving the helicopter running (but safely) I found to my horror that it wasn’t just escaped animals we had to deal with; three floor to ceiling panes of glass had been smashed, and our immaculate reception was open to the elements – we appeared to have been ram raided. As I stepped into the now open foyer, the burglar alarm activated and within minutes our sales director, Malcolm Thomas arrived, followed quickly  by a police squad car, with sirens blazing.  It looked like a scene out of POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION!

They were shortly followed by the CSI unit and Terry our IT & Comms manager who came along to troll through the CCTV footage to identify the culprits. With so many cameras, and no idea of when this had happened, the police and investigators took as much information as they could, and left it to Terry to find out who had smashed our windows, and with what.

Meanwhile, the confused and dazed animals were herded back to their field, and we attempted to unravel the mystery. We hoped that whilst looking through the CCTV footage for evidence of criminal behaviour, we may find out how the animals had escaped.

What Terry found on the CCTV footage defies belief. The CCTV reveals a Crow landing on the gate and lifting the latch with his beak, allowing the gate to swing open. Now strange as that seemed, at least we knew how the animals had got out.
Now to find the criminals who had damaged our lovely building. And this is where the true meaning of Ram Raid comes to the fore.  
The next footage revealed the Ram smashing through the Glass panes after seeing his reflection and seeing a bit of competition in the flock, not just one sheet of glass but three!

Click here to see the CCTV footage. 

Filling out the insurance claim form is going to be interesting ! Incidentally, the Police didn’t believe us and we have had to send them the CCTV footage !