A BUSINESSMAN who turned detective to catch two men with thousands of pounds worth of stolen exotic fish was celebrating last night after the pair were jailed.

David Rose, manager at Maidenhead Aquatics, South Hinksey, was praised by police who said it was his ‘gut instinct’ and and fast thinking’ which had helped nail the thieves.

Mr Rose suspected men acting oddly in the shop, at the Wyvale Garden Centre, the day before £9,000 worth of marine life, corals and equipment were stolen in February.

The 29-year-old found a CCTV image of a suspect who a colleague recognised as a customer.

He then found a name and mobile number on an order form and, when he tapped details into Google, it threw up an address in Banbury.

And when police said they were too busy to help, Mr Rose drove to the house and spotted some of his property on the front seat of a car parked outside.

He raised the alarm and officers raided the house.

Yesterday Robert Southam, 56, and his son-in-law Scott Anderson, 26, both from Mold Crescent, Banbury, were jailed at Oxford Crown Court for 40 weeks and 42 weeks respectively.

Mr Rose said: “They were walking round the shop showing too much interest in things, so when I heard the next morning about the break-in they stuck out like a sore thumb.

“We looked through CCTV and saw them staring at cameras and monitors – then my colleague recognised Southam as a customer.

“I told police, but they weren’t interested.

“The police officer was due to go on leave and would pick it up again in two weeks when he returned, but they would have got away with it by then.”

Police found £3,000 worth of stolen fish and equipment in Southam’s house and about £2,000 worth of stolen stock at a nearby address. It is not known what had happened to the rest of the stock.

Mr Rose said: “I had to do all the investigating.

“We told police names and addresses, but they would not have gone round.

“They would not have been found if I had not been bothered to look.”

Almost all the fish, which included exotic Sea Horses and Pipe Fish, had died.

Prosecutor Nikki Duncan told yesterday’s sentencing hearing that Southam and Anderson had admitted handling stolen goods at the start of their trial for burglary in March last year.

Anderson was convicted of attempted theft and going equipped to steal after he was caught by police at Hurrans Garden Centre, in Banbury, in August 2008.

Both were found guilty of shoplifting £334 worth of perfume from Debenhams, in Banbury, in November.

They were bailed to be sentenced for the crime spree together.

Southam was ordered to pay Maidenhead Aquatics £3,295 compensation and Anderson told to pay £1,855.

The court heard builder Southam had 25 previous convictions, including £39,000 benefit fraud and Anderson had 22, including battery and fraud.

Judge Anthony King said: “I would be failing in my duty if I did not impose an immediate custodial sentence on both of you.”

Pc Stephen Knight praised Mr Rose but said normal investigations would have ultimately led officers to Southam and Anderson.

He added“I would like to commend Mr Rose for his fast thinking and the actions that he took to bring these people to justice.

“We recovered 90 per cent of the items that were stolen and this was purely down to his gut instinct that something wasn’t quite right.”

mwilkinson@oxfordmail.co.uk