Salon owner Lisa Pond had a cash box stolen

by Emma Grove

A thief who tried to distract beauty salon staff by asking to borrow a pen discovered crime doesn't pay – when all he got away with was £1.

Lisa Pond, who owns Ginger Body and Soul in Hope Street, Sheerness, was on her own in the shop when a young man came in last Tuesday afternoon.

He asked her to borrow a pen as he wanted to write down a phone number and once he was finished, asked if she wanted it back.

She said she did and he left.

About half-an-hour later, Lisa was having lunch and her two staff were in rooms carrying out treatments with the doors shut.

The man came back into the salon, leaned over the desk and took the cash tin.

Lisa saw him do it, but said she was unsure about confronting him because she was on her own.

"he couldn't wait to get away – i knew what he'd done and he looked guilty as anything...” – salon owner lisa pond

"I rushed out there and he said he needed to borrow the pen again and I thought 'he's got my cash tin stuffed up his shirt'," she said.

"He couldn't wait to get away – I knew what he'd done and he looked guilty as anything.

"That's the funny thing – all that effort and there was a £1 coin, some receipts and a key."

Lisa said the key was for the alleyway near the salon so she has had to have the locks changed.

Other than that, she feels she's had a lucky escape, but wants to warn other businesses incase it happens again.

"It was so quick because the tin was right under the desk," she added.

"I don't know what might have happened if I confronted him – I was quite lucky really because I could have been punched.

"If he's done this to me I'm worried about other businesses.

"I went to the police so people can be a bit careful."

The thief is white, aged between 20 and 25, clean-shaven with short blond hair, slim and wearing a light-coloured zip-up jacket. If you have any information, phone Kent Police on 101 quoting crime reference number XY/035431/12.