WATCH: "Thief was not planning on being chased" - shop owner catches man who stole £13,000 designer sunglasses

As reported, a video of the drama shows the audacious shoplifter sprint out of Portsea Island Eyecare in London Road, North End, on August 28 around 5pm holding the large panel of shades.

In hot pursuit is fearless shop owner James Ward who is seen running after the thief along the busy road. Speaking to The News, Mr Ward has now revealed how he reclaimed all 64 sunglasses after hunting down the criminal to Connaught Road.

Suspicions were aroused when the shifty man came in via a side entrance before asking if the shop had any designer sunglasses. “I showed him them and he took a step back and pulled the rack to get some sunglasses but the whole lot came away even though it was bolted to the wall. He tripped over backwards, a mirror smashed and he fumbled out of the door and bolted up the street,” the shop owner said.

“I ran up the street and caught up with him not very far away after a two minute chase. He was shouting at me to leave it but I convinced him not to proceed (with running away). He then threw the rack on the floor and collapsed on the floor behind a car. He was obviously not planning on being chased up the road.

“I then took the rack back to the shop. Only two were damaged. They are now bolted back on the wall. He stole 64 frames with a value of around £13,000. It would have been a big loss.”

Mr Ward said police came within minutes after being called but he has heard nothing since then over it. “The officers took a statement and said, ‘Do you want to proceed?’ I said, ‘Yes if we can.’ They said they would look at CCTV from other nearby places and get all the footage together and then get back to us.

“The CCTV operator said the image was decent of him and police knew who it was.”

However, nearly a month on Mr Ward has yet to hear anything from the police. And when The News contacted the force it had no record of the incident.

It comes as The News and its sister publications have launched its Silent Crime campaign shining a light on low level crime that goes unreported or unpunished amid an epidemic of violence, anti-social behaviour, theft and other crimes.

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