A group of youths targeted a Sutton Coldfield clothes store ‘stealing hundreds of pounds worth of items’ just weeks after the shop opened, its staff have claimed. The ‘gang of 10 males’ went into the Jonah James ‘designer outlet’ shop in the Parade at around 1pm on Boxing Day (Thursday, December 26) and allegedly stole Dsquared2 items worth between £600 and £1,000.
The shop staff claimed the youngsters ‘checked out the shop’, which is at the Nando’s end of the Parade, a couple of weeks before. The staff claim they have then gone back and targeted the shop the day after Christmas Day.
The shop has posted images on their Facebook page following the incident. BirminghamLive is not able to show the images for legal reasons.
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Staff members at the shop told BirminghamLive: “They came into the shop at 1pm on Boxing Day. They drifted around the shop. There were 10 of them.
“They went for the Dsquared2 jeans, and took tops and a denim jacket too. You could tell they were here for specific items. We are an independent shop and only opened four weeks ago.
“They walked out of the shop and I told one of the Gracechurch Centre security guards. The thieves walked up by the German Doner Kebab place [at the corner of Holland Street].
“The security guards said they couldn’t do anything as they were off-site. I also called the police.”
Around 10 young males are alleged to have raided the Jonah James shop in Sutton Coldfield’s Parade on Boxing Day stealing clothes before fleeing towards the German Doner Kebab restaurant at the corner of Holland Street
(Image: Nick Horner/BirminghamLive)
One of the staff members from the ‘ladies and men’s designer outlet shop’ said: “I was shaken by it. I had said to them Merry Christmas and they said to me ‘it’s not even Christmas anymore’.”
A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: “We are investigating after a group stole clothes from a shop in Sutton Coldfield. At 1.30pm on Boxing Day, the group entered a shop in the Parade, stealing a number of items and making off.
“Enquiries are ongoing and anyone who saw what happened can contact us via 101 or Live Chat quoting log 1518 of 26 December.”
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The shoplifting spree came three days before, three teenagers, two 15-year-old boys and a 16-year-old girl were arrested in connection with a burglary at a shop off Queen Street in Sutton Coldfield in a separate incident, at 5pm on Sunday, December 29.
The three were said to have been seen by officers ‘making off from the area’ when they were arrested following a foot chase. All three teens have been bailed pending further police investigations.