Close shave for bungling burglar as Mansfield barber catches him in the act on Ring doorbell
A shocked Mansfield barber couldn’t believe her eyes when she witnessed a bungling burglar stealing from her shop on the Ring doorbell in broad daylight.
Steffie Crook, owner of Moons Barbershop in Bridge Street saw a notification on her phone to say someone was in the shop at midday on Sunday.
The barber initially thought it may be a glitch but when she logged in was shocked to see a man in a balaclava with a crow bar trying to open the decorative antique till used for display purposes in the shop.
The bungling burglar abandoned his efforts and instead escaped with £30 from the tips and float money – dropping £10 on his way out.
Her husband Oliver drove down to confront the thief as the burglary unfolded but missed him by just minutes.
As well as stealing tip money the thief also damaged a back window.
Steffie of Sutton Road, Mansfield said: “I was at home with my husband and got an alert on the Ring alarm system when I looked I saw a man with his hood up and a balaclava on using a crow bar to try and get into the antique till on the desk. The till is just for show and we don’t really take much cash anyway as most people pay on card but he was trying to get the drawer open for about 40 seconds. The alarm system gets louder and faster as it counts down and you could see him panicking hitting all the buttons, at the time I was shocked but the more I watched it afterwards it was like a comedy sketch.
"We took all the money out of the shop Saturday night so it was just £30 in float and tip money he got and even managed to drop a tenner on his way out.”
Steffi who has owned the shop for nearly two years says she is thankful as it could have been a lot worse.
She added: “In a way it’s uncovered a security breach that needs fixing for me, it’s such a tiny boarded up window and the back of the shop I don’t know how he fit through it and it was in broad daylight when a festival was going on in town so there were a lot of police officers out and about nearby.
"It is frustrating though as we now need to brick that window up and repair the till but I’m just thankful as it could have been a lot worse.
"One of the shops over the road was broken into recently and they had their front window smashed in, it’s so hard being a small business owner so things like this can really have a big impact.
“We have some absolutely smashing clients and they have all been showing their support and even some have been giving us a bit extra saying this is to help replace what was taken from your tip jar which is so lovely.”
Sergeant Alice Bartle, of Mansfield town centre policing team, said: “We know just how costly incidents of this nature are for local business and are working to find the person or people responsible.”
Anyone with information call 101 quoting 342 of June 2.