Hardware store owner who puts CCTV footage of thieves on YouTube accused of ‘breach of privacy’ by suspect
A HARDWARE store owner who puts CCTV of thieves on YouTube and pins up faces from footage in his shop was accused of breach of privacy by a suspect.
Neil Mackay, 68, said police arrested the man — who was later convicted of theft — when he complained his snap was on show at Mackays of Cambridge.
He said he began compiling his online “rogues’ gallery” as he was fed up of the force failing to take action against “brazen thieves”.
Cops said they had “thoroughly” investigated two recent thefts but no suspects were arrested and the cases were filed.
Neil said the power tools theft problem has got worse in the last 12 months – with him continuing to upload his CCTV on YouTube.
He added: “We secure our power tools with cables and chains, but the thieves come armed with cable-cutters.
“They also cut off all the security tags so that when they go through our store security gates, they don’t set them off. They’re brazen in the way they do it.
“As a company we’ve had to redesign our shop and take the power tools off-display and put them behind a counter.
“But it’s pointless for us to keep selling them if they’re just going to be stolen in this manner.”
He said he had recently reported two separate thefts to the police – one in September last year and another in March.
But despite providing them with the CCTV from the store, police failed to make any arrests.
A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire police said: “We were informed on September 28 last year of a theft from Mackays of Cambridge, East Road, that took place the previous day.
“Another theft was then reported on 4 March earlier this year, with the incident having taken place on March 1.
“Both crimes were investigated thoroughly, but no suspects were arrested, and the cases have since been filed pending further evidence coming to light.”
Farrah McNutt, who runs online crime prevention platform Catch a Thief UK, says she believes the latest suspects are part of an organised crime gang targeting DIY stores across the country.
She claims to have connected the gang to more than 70 incidents, and has passed the information to Project Pegasus, a partnership between retailers and police to tackle store crime.
