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Steamer Trading’s Bishops Stortford branch has been targeted by a pair of drunken thugs after its front door locks inexplicably failed.
The men were caught on CCTV cameras leaning against the shop door one night earlier this month, when it unexpectedly sprang open. The duo then went into the shop and started deliberately damaging stock. A display of some £400-worth of Orla Kiely ceramics was kicked over and smashed.
The men then left the shop but soon returned and started to rifle through the small appliances. Meanwhile, however, a passer-by had called the police, who arrived and caught the thieves as they tried to make their escape with coffee machines and other big-ticket items worth over £2,500 in total.
Steamer Trading’s managing director Ben Phillips told HousewaresLive.net: “At the moment we’re trying to ascertain how the door came open – for some reason the locks had failed. Magically, it seemed to pop open! [The men] were just a couple of drunks – they were quite taken aback. It won’t happen again!
“They were caught before they left the building. The CCTV and alarms did their job,” he added.
Two men, Ritchie Tough of Buntingford and Stephen Gillen of Bishop’s Stortford, have been charged with burglary and will appear at Hertford Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.
