Thieves raid Staffordshire honesty shop and steal £400 worth of ice cream

Thieves have stolen almost £400 worth of ice cream from a family-run honesty shop in Staffordshire.

The hooded men emptied a freezer full of ice cream at Daltons Dairy in Wootton while the shop was open on Tuesday (August 16), before raiding a wooden hut and loading the stolen contents into the back seat of their car.

Rosie Dalton, from Daltons Dairy, said: "They opened the back door of the car and were just throwing the ice cream onto the back seat.

"They also took some bottles of milk.

"We can't think what they were going to do with it. It's annoying because we'd had a really good week with the weather last week.

"We were really angry at first, but now we just think, how stupid.

"One of them had a tag on his ankle. How stupid to risk going to prison for that."

Angus and Sue Dalton took over the tenancy at Shawcroft Farm 20 years ago.

They opened the honesty shop the same year, stocking small and large tubs of ice cream alongside the dairy's own milk and butter.

It is unmanned, and customers are trusted to pay for whatever they take.

Staffordshire Police are now appealing for information. A spokesman said: "Officers were called to a premises on Ellastone Road in Wootton shortly after 9pm on Tuesday, August 16 following reports of a burglary.

"It is believed three hooded males, dressed in black, had entered the premises at around 8.35pm the same day.

"They then took a quantity of ice cream and milk before throwing the items into the back of a black Audi A4 and driving off.

"Officers are keen to speak to anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area at the time of the theft.

"Anyone with information, CCTV or dashcam footage should contact us quoting incident 791 of August 16.”