THESE startling images were captured on CCTV during the alleged theft of two charity boxes from a North Yorkshire village shop.

They show customers walking round Tollerton Stores in Tollerton, near Easingwold, before a woman's hand is suddenly seen reaching out to a collecting box on the counter.

 

The footage is being made available to North Yorkshire Police, who are investigating the theft of two charity boxes from the shop on Saturday May 30.

The shop's owner, Phil Lancaster, said the boxes were stolen when staff were distracted and their views blocked after a family of four had come into the shop who were not regular customers.

He said one was a Sooty box collecting money for the Royal National Institute of Blind People and the other was raising money for the Cheshire Home at nearby Alne.

"They were pretty full of pennies and 10 pence pieces so I reckon they must have had £30 or £40 in them," he said.

York Press:

Assistants Abi Ruddock and Liz Dawson at Tollerton Stores, where two charity boxes were stolen. Picture: Frank Dwyer

It was only later that staff realised the boxes had gone and he had been able to go back through the footage and discover the incriminating material.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "Police are investigating after two charity boxes were stolen from the Village Store in Tollerton.

"It is believed that the boxes were taken from the counter of the shop on Saturday 30 May."

Can you help?

Anyone with information is asked to phone Easingwold police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, quoting reference 12150094266.