A group of children, some reportedly as young as five, have been captured on CCTV entering a Bournemouth corner shop in balaclavas while adults believed to be their parents waited outside.
The footage, recorded by Dorset shopkeeper Erdogan Yigitoglu, 52, appears to show primary school-aged children taking merchandise worth as much as £120.
According to Mr Yigitoglu, the youngsters were sent into his store on different occasions to take chocolate bars, disposable barbecues, fruit and other goods.
For years, Mr Yigitoglu has posted CCTV footage of suspected shoplifters online in an effort to deter crime. Some of the recordings show children covering their faces as they remove items from the shelves.
However, he said the most distressing part was watching the masked children leave the shop and return to adults who had been waiting outside.
In one incident, he claimed a mother appeared to smile and pat her child on the head after the youngster returned with items taken from the store.
The shopkeeper, who has operated his Bournemouth business for 19 years, estimates that thefts and burglaries cost him thousands of pounds annually. He also says the repeated incidents have affected his mental health.
He said: “I can’t believe you would train your kids this way.”
Over the past six years, the father of three has tried using social media to publicly expose suspected thieves, while also banning them from the shop. He believes the approach has helped reduce the level of crime.
“The incident involving the young children wearing balaclavas was particularly shocking for me,” Mr Yigitoglu said.
CCTV appears to show two young children in balaclavas taking fruit from a corner shop in Bournemouth, Dorset
A boy wearing yellow approaches the shop in a balaclava as an adult waits outside
Another child wearing a balaclava appears to be sent into the corner shop to take fruit
A young child in a balaclava is shown taking fruit from a shop in Bournemouth
“What upset me most was seeing very young children imitate this kind of behaviour from adults.
“It was even more disturbing to see the children take items from the shop and then return to their mother, who appeared to treat what had happened as normal, even smiling and patting the child on the head.
“As a father, I found that extremely upsetting. I would never want children to grow up believing that stealing is acceptable or something to celebrate.
“I sincerely hope we see fewer incidents like this in the future. My greatest wish is for children to be taught the difference between right and wrong and given the support they need to become responsible members of the community.”
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Mr Yigitoglu said about half of the people he claims to have caught shoplifting on camera have later returned to apologise and pay for the goods.
“In my experience, publishing the CCTV has made a genuine difference. Since we began sharing authentic footage on social media, we have seen the number of incidents fall,” he said.
Mr Yigitoglu said he recently had an incident in the evening where a group of youngsters came into the shop with their faces covered.
He explained: ‘Because we could not see their faces, we did not allow them into the shop. They then took a large box of chocolates and ran away. These are the kinds of incidents we are dealing with.
‘It is extremely frustrating because we are working hard every day, trying to run an honest business and provide a service to the community.
‘All we want is to be able to work without fear and without constantly worrying about whether something is going to be stolen.’
Shopkeeper Erdogan Yigitoglu, 52, has spent years sharing CCTV footage of shoplifters online to reduce crime
The impact of such frequent theft has not only taken a toll on Mr Yigitoglu’s finances, but also his mental health – as he says he has found himself repeatedly feeling frightened about what has or will be taken next.
He said: ‘Of course these incidents make us fearful. They affect us much more than people might realise.
‘Sometimes we feel that we cannot even breathe properly because we are so worried about what might happen next.
‘Even when we leave the shop, our minds are still here. We are always thinking, “Has anything gone missing? Has someone stolen something?”
‘You cannot properly switch off from it.’
Mr Yigitoglu said he does not release the CCTV to embarrass people or cause additional problems – but simply to try and eradicate shoplifting.
He added: ‘We want to be able to run our business without always worrying about theft. What concerns me most is the effect this can have on the next generation.
‘If young people grow up seeing this behaviour as normal or something to copy, I really worry about where we will be in the future if nothing changes.
‘We don’t want this to become normal.
‘We want people to understand that behind every small business there are real people, real families and years of hard work.
‘My message is simple: we need to stop treating shoplifting as something normal or harmless. We want to see action so that small businesses can feel safe again.’
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