Scotland Yard has released a video showing a man using a hypnosis technique to rob a north London shop owner. In the CCTV footage released by police, a man can be seen entering an off license in Highgate.
He then approaches the owner and apparently tells him his wife is pregnant and that she needs some bottled water, in the process putting him into some kind of trance.
The man can then be seen touching first the stomach and then the shoulder of the shopkeeper, apparently mimicking a pregnant woman. These actions appear to leave the shopkeeper in some kind of trance.
We can then see the man reaching inside the shopkeeper's pockets, removing some money, while the man "remained motionless and unable to resist the robbery taking place", according to the Met Police.
As the alleged thief leaves the store, the shopkeeper seems to snap out of the trance and starts walking after the suspect.
According to Detective Sergeant Dave Bullock of the Serious Acquisitive Crime Unit in Haringey, the victim was momentarily unaware of what was happening to him. It seems the distraction techniques worked as the shop owner had an amount of money taken from his pocket.
While faces are blurred out in the video, police do ask anyone who might recognize the suspect, or have been a victim in a similar crime, to contact them. They say the suspect is approximately 30-35 years old, is approximately 5ft 8ins tall and of slim build, has an Eastern European appearance with short black hair. He was wearing dark jeans with a grey polo shirt and black bomber jacket with white writing on the back, just below the collar.
London 24 gave the following contact details for anyone with any information:
If you have any information about the theft contact the Met’s Incident Room on 0203 2763158 quoting reference CRIS 2820756/14, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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