Patio heater thief forced to do ‘walk of shame’ after stealing from St Helens pub

Landlady of The Swan pub on Corporation Street, Angela Hindley, said she was "gobsmacked" when she discovered the footage of a man dragging the 10ft patio heater down the street.

The heater had been installed as part of the pub’s new outdoor seating area.

Luckily, Angela had CCTV installed before reopening the pub after lockdown which managed to catch the individual in the act.

Angela told the Star: “I only realised on Friday when I was moving the gazebo outside.

The new outdoor seating area

“I said to my son go put the heater with the other one.”

As Angela and her son looked around, they realised it had gone missing.

“I knew the only date the gate was locked but didn’t have the padlock on was Sunday night so the cleaners can put the bins out on Monday morning,” she added.

Angela said when her son got the CCTV footage up, they were shocked to see a man roaming around the beer garden.

Angela said: “You can see on the camera this guy messing with the gate for five minutes before he comes in and starts mooching about and looking in the pub windows.

“He was going round all the ashtrays and taking people’s left-over cigarette stumps.”

Angela said the man went out of shot before returning with a pillow under his arm and a brush.

“Once he spotted the heater, he ended up putting the brush back and started meddling with the heater trying to turn it on,” she said.

“It’s 10ft tall with two wheels it’s hard to manoeuvre. My son is over 6ft, and he is the only one who can move it.

“Next thing this fella, who doesn’t have a pick on him, was trying to take it!”

From CCTV footage posted on The Swan’s Facebook page, the man can be seen pulling the heater out of the gate before dragging it down Corporation Street.

CCTV footage of the culprit dragging the patio heater away

“The mad thing was he still had a pillow under his arm, and he even shut and locked the gate behind him!” Angela said.

After discovering the footage, Angela posted the evidence on The Swan’s Facebook page to see if anyone recognised the culprit.

Angela said: “I had customers getting back to me to say where he was from and they had seen him walking around so I decided I would go down there the next day to speak to them.”

On Saturday morning, Angela received a phone call from her friend who works at KwikFit to say he had spotted her patio heater at a St Helens address.

“I went down there to see for myself, and this man had tried to hide it in the brambles and bushes, but you could still see this 10ft silver thing sticking out!” she said.

Angela phoned the police to report the theft.

The new beer garden at The Swan Pub on Corporation Street

She said: “I told the police I had located it and they came out to speak to the guy who stole it.

“They said he had owned up to it and said it was because he had drank too much alcohol with the medication he was on.”

The police then asked Angela if she wanted to press charges.

“I told them tell him he either brings back the heater himself or I’ll press charges,” she said.

“I didn’t want to inconvenience the police with paperwork, and it was beneficial for me to get my heater back.”

On Saturday, July 3, the man was seen dragging the heater back to the pub whilst pub onlookers watched in disbelief.

Angela said: “He took it all the way into the garden and when he came in everyone started clapping and cheering him.

“I told him never come back on my property again otherwise it will be a different scenario.”