Police hunt for child thief after shop raids

• Peter Sherry of Cornelius believes the

pint-sized thief squeezed in through the shop's toilet window

Businesses on Easter Road have been targeted by the pint-sized crook, who has managed to crawl through the tiny space left by iron bars being bent out of place. After one break-in, at Cornelius Wines and Spirits, two child-sized footprints were found inside the store. CCTV footage also showed a small hooded figure walking on to the shop floor from a toilet in the rear stock room.

Assistant manager Peter Sherry said: "We are almost certain that it is a child who has squeezed through the toilet window after the iron bars on the outside have been bent back by an adult.

"Myself and the manager think that whoever is behind this has sent a child into the store and got them to drag the till back to the narrow opening in the back toilet, where the adult has smashed it open.

"If it was just kids they'd have grabbed some booze, but not a single bottle is missing from the shelves."

He added: "The next morning we found a child's footprint on the toilet cistern and another on the safe box.

"The CCTV was difficult to make out because it was dark but it's a small figure with a hood going straight for the till.

"So many places have been done around here, including the charity shop next door.

"It's hard to imagine that anyone could use a child to do something like this. If it's not a child then it's the smallest thief I've ever heard of."

The most recent raid, on February 19 at around midnight, took place two days after a near identical break-in at the Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland shop, where an estimated 2500 of damage was caused and items stolen. On the night of that break-in, eyewitness Rebecca Jones, 41, raised the alarm around 7pm after seeing a figure entering from the shop's toilet window. She said: "It was dark but I saw a figure going through the window, horizontally.

"I couldn't see how big the figure was but I know how small the charity shop toilet window and Cornelius' windows are and it has to be a child, or the smallest adult ever."

Carolyn Raeburn, manager of the Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland's shop, said she believed the shop had been watched for days before the raid.

She said: "The window they got through is fairly small and the edges were left studded with glass, which made the space even smaller. They would have to have been no bigger than a child to fit through.

"The laptop for our Gift Aid scheme was stolen. Altogether we estimate the cost to be around 2500. They knew exactly where to get the float and laptop. It's horrible to think we may have been watched."

A police spokesman urged anyone who may have witnessed either break-in to contact them.