Chilling footage shows a man deliberately smash the windows of an east London restaurant - amid a bizarre spate of attacks that have left dozens of businesses suffering thousands of pounds of damage.
Around 50 incidents are thought to have hit the Bethnal Green area in recent months, with some premises targeted multiple times - leaving worried business owners pleading for extra CCTV cover.
Footage of one attack, carried out in early March, shows a man approaching Flat Earth Pizza before violently smashing its windows with a hammer.
It was the third time the business, in Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, has been targeted in the last six months.
Owner Sarah Brading described the repeated attacks, which have inflicted thousands of pounds of damage on her year-old business, as “sad and scary”.
”It’s a cost that as a small independent business, we weren’t forecasting for,” she said. “So it’s super damaging financially, but also it’s not nice knowing someone’s walking around with a hammer in his pocket, trying to cause harm to our business.
“We’ve just put so much time and love into this place. It’s very upsetting.”
Nik Southern, owner of florist Grace & Thorn in nearby Hackney Road, realised how widespread the attacks after she posted on social media about two attacks her shop suffered in 24 hours.
The first incident came in the early hours of February 5, when an intruder broke through a window and stole an empty till.
Later that night a vandal smashed the remainder of the shop’s windows, which have since been boarded up for six weeks so costly protective shutters can be installed.
“Retail sales have gone down 50 per cent because we’re still boarded up,” said Ms Southern. “We’ve lost Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day now. I’ve lost £1,800 on CCTV and alarms, £6,000 on shutters.”
Frustrated, she posted about the incidents on Instagram and was surprised when messages flooded in from other business owners in the Hackney Road and Columbia Road area, reporting break-ins, apparently motiveless hammer attacks, and other crimes.
“Every single one of our neighbours had been hit with something in the last few months,” she said.
“Last week four shops all in a row got done with a hammer, and a pub got burgled, all on one night.”
She said the ongoing spate has left her “mainly female” staff “quite paranoid”.
“I'm a Londoner, I'm not soft to crime,” she added. “But this is something different.”
Ms Southern believes authorities have been slow to act because the area falls near the border of Tower Hamlets and Hackney.
“We just feel in no man's land,” she said.
Attacks have been reported to police and Ms Southern has sent a list of incidents to local councils, but has been left frustrated by the response.
She has now launched a petition pleading local councils to install extra CCTV cameras, to help business owners who feel “helpless and vulnerable in the face of further crimes”.
The petition has so far attracted more then 2,200 signatures.
Scotland Yard says it takes the incidents “very seriously”, and is investigating.
“We are aware of a number of criminal damage incidents in the Hackney and Tower Hamlets area over recent months,” said a spokesperson.
“We are carrying out a thorough investigation and this includes gathering relevant CCTV, speaking to potential eyewitnesses and following up active leads.
“We are also speaking to affected business owners and recognise that these offences are having a hugely negative affect on people’s livelihoods, which we take extremely seriously.”
A Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson condemned the attacks, saying: “Vandalism is completely unacceptable, especially when it impacts people’s livelihoods.”
It added: “While criminal damage is a matter for the police to investigate, we are supporting the police and our community through our CCTV network and other measures.
“The council has also put more of our resources into patrols. Our Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers are walking the beat alongside police in the area to reduce the risk of further vandalism and support our traders and residents.
“We will also be providing funding for more police patrols and we are awaiting further intelligence from the police to see if more CCTV cameras are needed.”
A Hackney Council spokesperson added: “We are aware of incidents of vandalism affecting businesses in this area and we understand this will be a great cause of concern for many in the community.
“Many of the businesses affected are in Tower Hamlets, and as such we are liaising with Tower Hamlets Council and the police for them to investigate this matter further and take appropriate action.
“We have asked enforcement officers to be extra vigilant in this location after dark to prevent further offences.”
