A BRAZEN thief was caught on CCTV tip toeing around a farm shop while he stole groceries.

The footage from Barleylands Farm Shop, in Southend Road, Billericay, shows the thief wandering around the shop with a haul of stolen items at 1.30am yesterday.

There were staff working in the shop at the time stocking shelves, but the silent thief managed to help himself to a number of items - including chocolate and a milkshake.

Staff spotted him as he was fleeing the scene - but he got away with his stolen goods.

The farm shop has released CCTV footage in the hope of catching him.

Ross Assenheim, director of the store, said: “We think he must have been local as he turned up without transport.

“He jumped over the fence to get in and has caused damage to it.

“You can see in the CCTV that he is tip toeing round - that is because there are members of staff working the other side of the aisle.”

Sadly, this is not the first time the shop has been broken into.

He added: “It started to happen quite a lot, but we have people in the shop all night now.

“However, just the other day my wife had to stop someone loading their car with drinks and things they hadn’t paid for.”

The CCTV has been passed to the police.

Anyone with information can call officers on 101, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.