A shoplifter has been caught on camera ‘brazenly’ stealing goods from a Boots store in Stockport and putting them in his bag before walking out.
Customer Charlotte Warwick was in the branch of Boots on Castle Street in Edgeley at around 1.10pm on Monday afternoon (April 11) when she saw a man walk into the store and fill up his bag with items from the shelves.
“I was just in there picking up my prescription,” Charlotte, from Hazel Grove, told the M.E.N. “It was really, really quiet and then all of a sudden, this guy walks in. The staff member behind the counter shouted ‘Right, get out’ to him and he just replied ‘Nah, mate’.
“He then dropped the bag in front of the aisle and just started grabbing bottles and loading it up. He was just taking whatever he could find - it was like he was doing it to order. You could tell he was grabbing some of a certain product, then more of another.”
Charlotte decided to start filming the man so that she could help staff members and the police track down the man responsible. “He caught me filming him and he just shouted ‘Keep filming me, ya goon’,” Charlotte added.
“He really didn’t care. It’s like he knew he could just do it and get away. The staff aren’t paid enough to put themselves in danger. You don’t know if they’ve got a weapon in their pocket, so it’s not just worth the risk. The staff member said he was phoning the police and the man was just like ‘Yeah, go ahead. Do what you want mate’.”
Charlotte said that once the man filled his bag, he walked straight out of the store. “It’s just disgusting behaviour,” she added. “What gets on my nerves is that when people do this, it cranks the prices up for the rest of us who are doing the right thing.”
A Boots spokesperson said: “Like many retailers, we are experiencing increasing levels of retail crime in our stores. We’re doing everything we can to support our team members, including investing heavily in our own security.
“Last year, we opened a state of art CCTV monitoring centre and have been trialling body cameras, but sadly it still remains an issue for many of our stores. We think that much more can be done to support retailers in this area, which is why we are working closely with the Home Office and the Police to explore what more can be done.”
The M.E.N has contacted Greater Manchester Police for further information. Anyone with information on the incident can report it to GMP via their website.
