Gosport shopkeeper feeling 'gutted' after prom dress is stolen from store

What seemed like an ordinary Tuesday evening ended in heartbreak as Beverley Thorne, owner of Susan’s of Gosport, welcomed a mother and daughter into the gown store to look at prom dresses.

The pair looked around as Beverley sat doing work on her laptop before they asked to try something on.

Beverley took the dress through to the changing room, unaware that she was not being followed by the eager prom-goer.

She returned to the front of the shop in Stoke Road to see her customers leaving – supposedly to collect the daughter’s shoes to try on with the dress, which is quite a normal request.

They did not return and a birdal dress customer then arrived so it was not until Wednesday morning when another customer was browsing the collection Beverley noticed an unusual pink ombré Eternity Prom dress was missing.

‘I took the shop apart to try and find it and realised where it was there was an empty hanger. I was gutted,’ she said.

‘I really loved that dress, it was one of my favourites.’

She is trying to raise awareness of theft of the pink ombré gown, which would retail for around £450, as Susan’s is the only shop in the area which stocks this brand and design so it’s unlikely it would have come from elsewhere.

Beverley hopes people will notice if their schoolmates are wearing this dress and can find out where they got it from.

It is the first time in the two-and-a-half years that Beverley has owned the shop that an incident like this has happened.

She said: ‘I know I’m a shop and shop keepers ought to be aware of things like this but you don’t expect someone to pinch a great big gown.

‘You learn by your mistakes, I’ll just have to be more vigilant.’