A gaggle of masked schoolkids were caught red-handed as they raided an “honesty cake shed” before being shamed into returning to pay.
Emma Burton, who owns The Capel Cake Shed in Capel-le-Ferne in Kent, was informed of the raid after an eyewitness spotted the thieves on August 16.
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The trio of cake-crazed bandits swiped £27.50-worth of sweet treats in total, pinching 11 items each priced at £2.50.
The youths’ brazen behaviour was captured on the 46-year-old’s Right Doorbell camera, where two youngsters could be seen grabbing boxes of cake without paying.
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To avoid identification, one of the boys repurposed his t-shirt as a face covering while the pair gorged themselves on the sweet treats.
An elder boy barked orders at his two sweet treat stooges, telling them to “get loads of s**t” from the honesty shop.
And, just a day later, Ms Burton’s camera picked up two of the three cake thieves returning to stuff £10 into the honesty box.
Emma, who also works as an ice-cream seller, identified the boys as around 13 or 14 – and has since reported the instance to Kent Police.
The mother-of-three shared the Ring Doorbell footage on Facebook in a bid to help her identify the boys and deter them from returning.
Ms Burton, from Folkstone, said: “It’s not the first time it’s happened. It happened at 4.40pm on Sunday.
“I was at my other job and I got a message from someone saying they had just seen three kids running from my cake shed with balaclavas on.
“I looked at my Ring Doorbell and it showed that they had wrapped their t-shirts around their head but they did look like balaclavas.
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“I put the video up on Facebook as I thought someone would know who they were.
“It makes me really sad. Everything is priced at £2.50 and there’s a cash box and a QR code with my bank details [to pay for the cakes]. Everything is done in honesty.
“They almost look like gangsters in their balaclavas. I hate to think what they’re going to be like in five years, it’s worrying.
“I’ve got kids as well and I’d be mortified if they were mine.”
Ms Burton and her husband believe they later came across the trio in a nearby park. She alleged the cake bandits swore at her husband.
She said: “My husband went up to them and said, ‘I know you’, and they replied ‘no you don’t’.
“He then said ‘you’re on my CCTV’, and the kids went ‘f**k off, I’ll rob it again’.”
Ms Burton established the honesty-box back in December – even baking up to seven hours a day to keep the community happy.
A Kent Police spokesman said: “It was reported to Kent Police at 7.40pm on Sunday 16 August that premises in Capel le Ferne had been targeted earlier in the afternoon and cakes had been stolen.
“Enquiries are ongoing and anyone with relevant information should contact Kent Police on 01843 222289 quoting 16-1534.”
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