A baker chased down a cake thief in Clay Cross, Derbyshire, after spotting him stealing £9.80 worth of desserts from her honesty shop.
Jade Walton, 33, watched the incident unfold on the security camera at JD Bakes on October 19 before running after the hooded man and demanding that he return the goods.
The thief had taken a lemon drizzle cake, a slice of raspberry ripple and a chocolate brownie. Footage showed him pulling his coat over his face as he put the items into a bag.
Ms Walton said she had been making cookie dough in the bakery when she noticed the camera previews. After reviewing the recording, she ran to the high street and spotted the man further down the road.
She began filming on her phone as she confronted him, shouting: “You’ve just took them without paying. You’ve done this before.”
The man handed over one of the cakes and apologised, but initially tried to walk away. When Ms Walton pointed out that he had taken more than one item, he opened his bag and returned the other two packages.
“They were already eating one item. I couldn’t believe it,” Ms Walton said. “I’m not a confrontational person but I couldn’t let this go.”
She then warned him: “Don’t come back.”
Ms Walton, a mother of two, said signs outside the shed, inside it and in the courtyard warned that the premises were covered by 24-hour recording.
She said the business had been repeatedly targeted in recent months, describing the theft as the third since July.
“It’s more the principle, it’s more than the cake,” she said. “Obviously we didn’t put any of the items back but it’s annoying to deal with.”
JD Bakes has operated on a full honesty-box system since Ms Walton opened it in 2017. She said 99 per cent of customers were honest and that she did not want the actions of an occasional thief to damage the system.
Derbyshire Police said the incident had been reported and that officers were reviewing and pursuing lines of enquiry, including footage of the individual who stole the items. No arrests had been made.
