Moment callous thief steals children’s cancer charity collection tin from hotel
Scumbags spent two hours pretending to be related to an elderly couple so they had an excuse to be lingering in the hotel
A WICKED thief was caught on camera stealing a charity collection tin after befriending an elderly couple and pretending to be their grandchildren to get away with it.
The suspect and a female accomplice masqueraded as the innocent couple's grandkids and sat with them in a hotel bar making small talk to give them an excuse for being on the premises.
Then as they prepared to leave, the "scumbag" picked up the tin - which was full of money being collected for a children's cancer charity - from the reception desk and hid it under a coat he was carrying before walking out.
Earlier on the crime committing duo walked into the hotel in Bournemouth, Dorset, and were asked by manager Richard Garrett, 36, if they needed a room.
They pretended to be visiting their grandparents and pointed to the unknown couple sat in the bar area before joining them.
The couple sipped a diet coke and a pineapple juice and happily chatted with the genuine guests for two hours.
Before he left the cruel thief wrote out a fake note for his "grandmother" at the reception desk - which is when he swiped the collection box.
The note read: "To Nan. Have a nice holiday, I will see you again."
Staff later spotted the tin - that contained over £100 for the Youth Cancer Trust - was gone and checked CCTV to discover what had happened.
Mr Garrett said: "It is just completely disgusting, only a complete scumbag would steal a charity box, especially as it was for children with cancer.
"The fact they pretended for two hours to be related to a couple of guests is just incredible.
"It looked very natural and we had no reason to suspect anything untoward. The four of them seemed to get on well.
"After they left I spotted the charity box had gone and checked the CCTV.
"I said to the couple 'I think your grandson has stolen our charity box' and it was then they told me they didn't even know the man.
"The poor old lady kept apologising and I really had to calm her down.
"I've never seen anything like it."
The despicable crime happened the day after a crook matching the description of the hotel thief snatched hundreds of pounds from the hands of an OAP in his 80s in the nearby Boscombe East Post office in Bournemouth.
CCTV footage for both incidents show a white, well built man, dressed entirely in black with short black hair.
In the Post Office raid the suspect wore a black jacket while the hotel thief carried a similar looking jacket over his arm.
Police are now investigating whether they are the same man.