Moment thief crawls along floor of antiques store before stealing thousands of pounds worth of jewellery
Shocking footage shows a burglar crawling along the floor of an antiques store before stealing thousands of pounds worth of jewellery during a heist.
The thief was captured on CCTV clambering on his hands and knees after he broke through a skylight and drilled a hole in a door in order to access the shop.
After disabling the cameras, he then pocketed thousands of pounds worth of gold and silver jewellery before making his escape from Notions Antiques, in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
Scroll down for video
The thief was captured on CCTV clambering on his hands and knees after he broke through a skylight and drilled a hole in a door in order to access the shop
Devastated shop owners believe the professional thief scouted out the premises prior to the crime, which took place at 7pm on October 11.
Director Lewis Checkley, 62, said: 'They have come through a skylight. They dismantled the sky light, dropped through the middle into the hallway.
'He made a human size hole in the door with a power tool. It was a very professional job. You can see from the CCTV how professional a job it is.
'Obviously he has been planning it for some time after sussing out what we had got.
'They must've done a recce of the place to see what system we've got and how to do the crime.
Director Lewis Checkley, 62, said: 'They have come through a skylight. They dismantled the sky light, dropped through the middle into the hallway. 'He made a human size hole in the door with a power tool. It was a very professional job. You can see from the CCTV how professional a job it is'
'We don't have footage of them taking stock because he went behind the counter to switch off the cameras then did what they wanted to do.
'But we have got him coming into the building, dropping into the hallway, coming through a hole in the door, crawling across the middle of the shop, but that is all.
'I'm absolutely gutted. The shop has been in business for over 37 years and we've never had anything like this happen to us before.
'You could say it's even more callous at a time like this. People think they can do what they want and get away with it.
'There has been that much taken in gold and silver it will take a while to sort out what stock has gone missing because they took the tags off the items.
'It is going to take a few weeks to figure out exactly what has gone missing.'
The raided shop is seen above. Mr Checkley said: 'There has been that much taken in gold and silver it will take a while to sort out what stock has gone missing because they took the tags off the items'
Lewis also shared the footage on Facebook and wrote: 'So this video shows the scummy 'person' that thought it was acceptable to break into Notions Antiques Centre in Grantham last night.
'This clip totally epitomizes the lowlife that they are. Crawling across the floor. !!
'They broke in around 7.00 on Sunday night....stealing thousands of pounds worth of jewellery with no regard for hardworking peoples livelihoods.
'Any information gratefully received and anonymously dealt with.
'Police are viewing this and other exterior cctv images.Please share far and wide.'
A Lincolnshire Police spokesperson said: 'We are investigating a burglary at Notions Antiques, High Street, Grantham.
'It was reported to us on Monday 12th August and happened sometime between 4pm on Sunday the 11th and the following morning.
'A quantity of gold and silver jewellery was taken.
'We would urge members of the public to report any information to us. We're keen to hear from those people who may have been in the area between 4pm on Sunday, October 11 and 9.30am on Monday, October 12. Call 101 quoting incident 99 of 12/10/2020.'