Sweet Shop Owners Set Honey Trap To Catch Burglar
WHEN Jane and Neil Hutton realised a burglar was stealing from their Beehive Treats sweet shop in Marlow, Bucks, they set a honey trap and waited.
Says Mr Hutton:
“At every stage there were little traps, things that would tell us exactly where he was and what he was doing. First the Victorian shop bell rang as someone came in and then there was the sound of the Windowlene bottle being knocked over by the first till. Next came the rustling of someone fighting through full bin bags in the dark and then, and this was not in the plan, the sounds of the loo being used and flushed.”
That will be the thrill of the crime. I once returned from a night out to find the stereo missing and a large turd on my lounge floor.
Mr Hutton goes on:
“We had to desperately stop ourselves from laughing. Next he tripped over the cans of cream soda placed to distract him as he approached our hiding place.”
When the robber entered the store room, the couple rushed the villain and locked him inside.
At Wycombe Magistrates’ Court, Oliver Longstaff, 20, a would-be actor, admitted to stealing to pay off gambling debts.
His solicitor Stephen Toghill tells the Beak:
“It was the panic caused by this debt collector turning up at his home. Basically he wanted to try and get some money quickly and he saw an easy option.”
Local man Longstaff, of Marlow, scored himself a 12-month supervision order, 40 hours unpaid work, £85 court costs and has to pay £158 to Beehive Treats.
As anyone who has ever visited a olde worldy-style sweet shop will know, there is fortune to be made in flogging sugary treats. It is, is it not, daylight robbery…
Posted: 13th, August 2011 | In: Strange But True Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
