Parents filmed smiling and patting children on the head after balaclava-clad kids, some as young as five, raided a Bournemouth corner shop

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Erdogan Yigitoglu, 52, who has run his corner shop in Charminster, Bournemouth, for 19 years, says he was left stunned after CCTV captured children as young as five wearing balaclavas stealing fruit from outside his store. Adults waiting nearby appeared to congratulate the children afterwards, with one woman caught on camera smiling and patting a youngster on the head. Yigitoglu said he "couldn't believe" what he was seeing and described the incident as "so shocking", adding that it seemed like the children were being actively trained to steal.

Yigitoglu, a father of three, says shoplifting costs him many thousands of pounds each year and has had a serious impact on his mental health.

'It seemed like they were training the kids to steal,' he said, adding he believes the families were holidaymakers rather than locals, as they only targeted his shop once.

His CCTV gallery of shame has recorded other audacious thefts, among them a man who made off with £120 worth of disposable BBQs and an elderly woman who used her walking frame to wheel stolen chocolate out of the store.