Bungling Aycliffe thieves who advertised their swag on a Facebook ‘bonus ball’ competition have been caught out thanks to eagle-eyed shop workers.
Neighbourhood PCs Adam Crawford and Josh Roberts were patrolling Newton Aycliffe town centre last Saturday when staff at Heron reported a shoplifting incident.
Workers mentioned that they’d seen the suspected stolen goods posted on Facebook as part of a ‘bonus ball’.
The caption read “1 to 50, £1 a number, Meats all in good date back in my fridge, 36 bars of milkybar gold”.
After a bit of detective work, PC Crawford and Roberts tracked down the address where the items were being raffled from and seized a large quantity of rump steak and Milkybar gold.
“A man was interviewed under caution and is being dealt with,” said a police statement.
“To the delight of the staff, the items were returned to the store within the hour.”
