They're nuts! The South Tyneside creatures which caused a meaty crimewave in 2011
‘It was just running around having a bit of sausage then it ran over to the pasties and tried a bit of that too’
This might well have been the most unusual crime spree ever to be seen in South Tyneside.
First there were seagulls. Then came the South Tyneside squirrels. And the common denominator was they loved a pastie or a sausage.
South Shields faced a wave of thefts with a difference 15 years ago and it caused a mix of amusement and surprise for Gazette readers at the time.
It started with a seagull brazenly walking into a King Street Greggs store and making off with a packet of crisps, followed by another of a bird attempting daylight robbery at Holland & Barrett, on the same street.
Then it appeared that the squirrels had caught on.
Caitlynn Walsh captured a video of a squirrel helping itself to the produce in Dicksons butchers, in King Street.
The then 19-year-old, from South Shields, was taking shelter from the rain with her daughter, Lilah Holmes, father-in-law Marc Holmes, mother-in-law Kelianne Broome, and brother-in-law Leon Broome, when she spotted the critter helping itself to a feast in the shop window.
Caitlynn, who was studying hairdressing and barbering at South Tyneside College, said in 2011: “There were loads of people outside and I’d just ran over to get some shelter when it started raining, then I saw it running around in the window. Everyone was just laughing and trying to get pictures and videos of it and I just had to get one. The staff didn’t know what to do. Someone was on the phone to the RSPCA and someone else was on the phone to their boyfriend telling them to come to the shop and bring a box with them.
“It was just running around having a bit of sausage then it ran over to the pasties and tried a bit of that too. Eventually it just ran out of the shop and ran away, then up a tree.
“They closed the shop straight away and just apologised and said they’d had to sterilise everything and throw all of the fresh food away. It must have cost them quite a bit.”
Get in touch to share your memories of the furry felines - or maybe you know of a similar animal-based crime spree happening in the borough now.
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