A pair of brazen shoplifters were filmed singing the classic Christmas tune ‘Santa Baby’ as they helped themselves to goods from a family-run hardware store in Worcestershire.
The two women were caught on security cameras at Badham’s Home Hardware Supplies on New Street in Upton upon Severn last Thursday.
They made off with paints and paint brushes estimated to be worth between £60 and £70.
The theft happened just days before Christmas, leaving the shop’s owners feeling disheartened that their independent business had been targeted during what should be the most wonderful time of the year.
Co-owner Pat Badham was serving another customer when the duo entered the shop, but he had a feeling something wasn’t quite right.
After finishing with his customer, he checked the area where the women had been browsing and discovered a significant amount of stock had vanished.
A quick look at the CCTV footage confirmed his suspicions.
“They were singing Santa Baby as they merrily chose what they wanted,” his wife Catherine Badham told a local news outlet.
A quick look at the CCTV footage confirmed his suspicions
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BADHAM’S HOME HARDWARE
Catherine Badham said the incident left her feeling “frustrated” that their small business had been targeted with Christmas less than a week away.
She’s now shared the CCTV images to alert other local businesses and has permanently banned the pair from the premises.
West Mercia Police told GB News that the incident is currently being investigated.
It comes after recent police figures have shop shoplifting spiralling out of control.
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West Mercia Police told GB News that the incident is currently being investigated
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BADHAM’S HOME HARDWARE
Retail theft across England and Wales has surged this year, with police figures showing more than 800 shoplifting cases a day being closed without a suspect ever identified.
The data shows unsolved store thefts are up 65 per cent compared with 2019/20, with almost 295,600 offences recorded this year alone.
That equates to roughly one theft going unpunished every minute during normal trading hours.
Even as reported shoplifting hit a record 529,994 in the year to June, a 13 per cent annual increase, fewer than one in five cases resulted in a charge.
The proportion of cases resulting in a charge remains low, at just 19.6 per cent.
Amid the growing crisis, the Liberal Democrats are calling for a nationwide rollout of CCTV in corner shops, funded through a mix of Government grants and loans.
The party, which commissioned the analysis of police data, has proposed £6,500 per store, split evenly between grant support and loan financing.
If all 18,500 independent retailers registered with the National Association of Convenience Stores were to take up the full grant, the scheme would carry an estimated £60million price tag.