“Crime tourists” from Britain deported and banned from Canada

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Two U.K. men who decided to turn their Canada holiday into a crime spree have had their trip cut short, and will not be allowed to “vacation” here again.

As reported in the Simcoe Reformer and other media outlets, Jim Wall, 22, from Shirenewton, Wales, and Ned Myers, 21, also from the U.K., were deported on Thursday after spending 10 days in jail in Sarnia, Ont.

“Go home,” Justice Paul Kowalyshyn told them Thursday in a Sarnia courtroom. “Don’t let the door of the plane hit you on your backsides as you board.”

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The men came to Canada on Dec. 6 and started committing crimes the next day. On Dec. 10, Sarnia Police Service put out a press release asking for the public’s help in identifying the two men, who had already been captured.

“On December 9th, 2024, two males attended an address on Franklin Avenue in the City of Sarnia,” police said. “The two males posed as contractors and offered to clean the eavestroughs for the homeowner. A short time later the males indicated to the homeowner that they had completed the work, and tried to convince the homeowner that her eavestroughs needed repairing and they would do it for an additional fee. The homeowner then realized that the individuals had not done any work and phoned the police.”

Sarnia police said they arrested the men a short distance away. “The investigation led police to discover that the individuals had committed similar offences in another jurisdiction,” they said, adding: “At this point, the Sarnia Police Service has not been able to successfully identify the individuals who produced identification from another country.”

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Wall and Myers have since been convicted of attempted fraud and theft, and were escorted out of the Sarnia courthouse in handcuffs by Canada Border Services Agency officers to be deported, per the Reformer. Their sentence was time served, deportation, and a ban on returning to Canada.

Both men apologized, saying they were traumatized by the experience and looking forward to being deported.

“I won’t be going on any more planes ever again,” Myers said.

“I’ll never go on holiday again. I’ll never leave the U.K. as long as I live,” Wall said.

“If you’re happy to be deported I can assure you that that feeling is felt by the citizens of Sarnia,” Kowalyshyn replied.

Crimes by foreigners posing as vacationers is not unknown, nor is it even particularly new. Back in 2015, Toronto Police arrested 12 Chilean nationals in connection with a string of thefts from several local jewelry stores and pawn shops.

Three years later, Halton Regional Police Service announced that it had identified “a large network of Chilean nationals who were unlawfully in the country for the sole purpose of committing criminal offences.” Code-named Project Estruendo (Spanish for Noise), the police effort resulted in the arrest and deportation of 15 suspects.

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The Service also provided information to Australian authorities, it said, “which prompted a new investigation resulting in the capture of eight Chilean Nationals committing the same crimes in Australia.”

Law enforcement officials in the U.S. and elsewhere even have a name for those who travel to commit crimes, calling them “tourist burglars” or, more commonly, “crime tourists.”

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