A boss of a Telford coffee house today appealed for help in a bid to catch a thief who broke into his cafe and was caught on CCTV cameras.

The suspected raider was captured on CCTV as he broke into the Central Park Coffee House, Hollinswood Road, stealing two television sets and the contents of a children’s charity collection box. The man broke into the cafe during the early hours of last Thursday and thought he had disabled the security system.

But the suspect failed to realise there was a network of CCTV appliances following his every move and now the footage has been placed on YouTube.

He is seen leaving his push bike outside he cafe and breaking in. The video shows him visit the premises once and then returns to complete his haul.

Two television sets and about £60 – the contents of two collection boxes belonging to a Shropshire children’s charity – were taken.

Mike Perkins, the coffee house owner, said he hoped placing the video on YouTube would help catch the suspected thief. He has even offered a cash reward to capture the culprit.

“We are very keen to see this man apprehended,” said Mr Perkins. “He does not get any awards for intelligence because he was walking around the inside of the building followed constantly by the red lights of the cameras. He doesn’t seem to realise that his every move is being captured on camera.

“Customers have all seen the photographs from the CCTV images and because the quality is so good, we are confident we will be able to identify the robber.” He said staff had suspicions about the man’s identity.

“He must live locally to be able to ride home with two televisions under his arm at 2.30pm,” said Mr Perkins.

Police spokesman Chris Ammonds said an investigation was ongoing and officers were looking forward to viewing the CCTV images.

By Brett Gibbons