‘He just walks out with it': Brazen guitar theft at Camden Town music shop
Shop owner questions what police are doing to stop thieves
Saturday, 28th June — By Tom Foot
The man in the CCTV clip picks an expensive guitar off a hook and walks out
THIS is the moment a suspected thief brazenly picks up a classic guitar from a music shop – and simply walks out with it.
The CCTV footage comes from Camden Guitars in Chalk Farm Road, Camden Town, and has left the independent store’s owner fuming.
Deicola Neves said four of his bestsellers had recently been stolen from his shop but police showed little interest in catching the culprits.
The latest grab came on June 10.
Mr Neves said: “There is a lack of police around in Camden Town. And there are a lot of things happening right now that they could be helping with. The drugs. The phone and bag snatches are happening every day. But finding the police here it’s like finding gold.
The suspected thief pulls down the white guitar
Mr Neves said: “For four months this guy has been coming to the shop with another guy, over and over, looking for guitars. Then he came back with a little girl, maybe 16. He just walks out the door with it.
“The criminals. They don’t even wear masks anymore. They don’t cover their faces. They don’t even run because they know there is no one trying to catch them.”
He added: “It’s not just the lack of police on the street. If you report a crime, they don’t come and do a report. They find excuses. They say to you, it’s under £1,000 – sorry. You have to log things online, it is quite complicated. For the business, under a £1,000 is a lot to an independent company in Camden Town.”
The New Journal reported on Mr Neves in 2018 when he turned detective and tracked down a man who stole a £6,000 microphone from his shop posing as a struggling artist.
He said: “The police were useless in that case. But in the end it went to court. He was supposed to pay a fine to me but after one year it hadn’t come through. When I rang the court they said ‘oh sorry, he hasn’t paid’ – and that was it. My frustration has been building for a long time now.”
Camden Guitars in Chalk Farm Road
Mr Neves said he had once found one of his stolen guitars for sale in a nearby second-hand shop.
The Met Police is facing a cut of 1,700 officers, PCSOs and staff due to a £260m hole in its budget for the coming year.
Senior police chiefs warned the government earlier this month that they would have to make difficult choices about what crimes they investigate if spending cuts are announced by the chancellor next Wednesday.
Deicola Neves
In a letter to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, Sir Mark Rowley – the head of the Metropolitan Police – and other senior chiefs, warned cuts to police budgets will have “far-reaching consequences”.
The Met has said that it is restructuring policing to focus on serious crime and also prevention.
The New Met for London plan says: “With the increasing complexity of crime, the high expectations of the public and government, and the demands of the criminal justice system, there is an unsustainable and unrealistic divide between the realities of policing a modern global city and the reductions we’ve seen in per capita funding provided to the Met.”
