A SHOP owner has been left furious after the daylight theft of a necklace from her business.

An elderly pair visited Scape Interiors, in Broadway, Leigh, on Friday June 22, and took the piece while browsing around the high-end furniture store.

Lisa Blatch said the pair engaged with the store manager, but were later seen on CCTV pocketing the jewellery.

She said this is isn’t the first time the business has been targeted like this.

The shop director said the police are dealing with this and she will hand the CCTV footage to officers as soon as possible.

The business director said: “The woman was seen on CCTV picking up the necklace, costing about £65, and then later the man put it in his pocket.

“We can’t believe it, as they don’t seem the type to do this sort of thing.

“We are a small independent business, and although we have great loyal customers, things are tough on the Broadway for businesses like us.

“Footfall has gone down and insurance has gone up and this will affect our liability insurance.

“The last incident was last year, when we had two large sheep skins taken and afterwards people came forwards with information and said people were selling them.”

Ms Blatch said she feels that the more this is shared then the more likely it is that the couple will be caught.

She said she also wants to help warn other nearby businesses about the incident.

She said: “Older people are far less conspicuous then younger people, so it’s more surprising when they do this.

“I think that young thieves grow up to become older thieves.

“We have had some people come forward saying they think they recognise the couple involved after we shared the CCTV on our social media pages.

“We mainly sell furniture but people aren’t able to leave with it so I guess they chose the necklace.

“It was a new, high-end piece of jewellery.

“We hope that by people sharing the CCTV and our appeal will help to act as a deterrent for the people who are doing this in the area.

“I think that it will be embarrassing for them when they are in the public eye.

“After we posted the CCTV of the pair walking into the shop on Facebook and Instragram, a few people came back to us and said we shouldn’t have done it.

“I think people were concerned about identifying an older couple.”

Essex Police is investigating the incident.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101, or visit essex.police.uk/do-it-online/

Alternatively, you can give information anonymously to Crimestoppers 0800 555111.