A woman who took £30 worth of sweets from an honesty box in Hampshire but left only 7p as payment has been publicly shamed into paying the full amount. The incident occurred at Emsworth Sweets, a business run by Leah O'Brien.
Caught on camera
The unidentified woman was filmed filling a bag with 10p sweets while two children played nearby. Owner Leah O'Brien received alerts on her phone during the theft, which raised her suspicions. She said: 'Someone came in the evening and was putting a lot of stuff in her bag and I thought to myself “that’s a lot of sweets”. She put just two coins into the box which amounted to 7p. I got an alert on my phone telling me what was going on.'
Social media shaming leads to payment
O'Brien shared images of the alleged thief on social media, and within an hour, the woman's identity was revealed. O'Brien stated: 'Within the hour I had someone here to pay for the sweets that had been taken.' The business, which started as a sweet delivery service during lockdown, relies on customer honesty for payments.
