Moment furious boutique owner confronts glamorous shoplifter 'who tried to steal £25 gym set after 'already targeting three other stores'

By NICK FAGGE, SENIOR REPORTER and MARK LISTER Published: 00:01, 14 August 2026 | Updated: 00:10, 14 August 2026 A furious boutique owner caught a glamorous woman shoplifter red-handed and then discovered she had allegedly struck at three other nearby shops by 9.20am.  Raja Hussain, 53, posted his citizen's recovery of the stolen items on TikTok to out the shameless suspect. The smartly dressed alleged shoplifter visited his clothing shop Pretty N Pinky, in Halifax, West Yorkshire, early on Wednesday 5 August, as Raja, who employs two members of staff was just opening up. Raja, who also has three other businesses in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, launched Pretty N Pinky in May. 'It's going amazing in general. I did a TikTok video earlier about a rude parking guy, which got 1.4m views, so I know the power of social media,' said sharply dressed Raja, who was born and bred in Halifax. 'As long as this shop pays the staff wages and gives me a little bit on top - I'm not greedy - I'm happy. I'm really happy in this store. I love this town.' But shoplifting is a big problem in Halifax town centre. Pretty N Pinky displays clothing over three storeys so monitoring every customer who enters is tricky. But, says Raja, this particular customer immediately aroused his suspicion. Raja Hussain, 53, posted his citizen's recovery of the stolen items on TikTok to out the shameless suspect (above)  Raja, who also has three other businesses in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, launched Pretty N Pinky in May She entered around 9.20am carrying a black handbag, with a New Look price label still attached.  'I clocked her straight away,' said Raja. 'She started picking clothes up and messing around, saying 'this is not my size' and 'this is nice, this is nice' and then putting them back, in different places. 'I wasn't far away from her, maybe three metres. She was rolling clothes up and trying to put them in her bag.' The customer picked up a £25 green two-piece gym set and then the same in pink. 'She put that pink set back on the shelf, but she'd put the green in her handbag,' said Raja, adding, 'I thought 'this cannot be happening so early in the morning'.' Then, suddenly, she just walked out of Raja's shop and began walking up the road out of town. Raja pursued her as he dialled the cops on 999 and finally confronted her around 200 yards away from his store, videoing the whole incident for his and her own protection. She handed over the black handbag - from New Look - and Raja was astounded what he found when he opened it up. Inside, was the green two-piece from his shop, six pieces of jewellery from River Island, some greetings cards and pens from another town centre store - all, believed to have been stolen that morning in the space of 20 minutes. In the TikTok video the woman can be heard complaining that his filming of her is 'illegal', to which he replies 'why have you come into my shop and stolen from me?' She says 'I'm sorry' before continuing to walk away in disgrace. Raja can be heard shouting 'You stole from me, you're a thief, it's not right, that' as he opens up the black handbag to reveal clothing she had stolen from his store and other goods lifted by her that morning. Raja pursued her as he dialled the cops on 999 and finally confronted her around 200 yards away from his store, videoing the who incident for his and her own protection Raja and the attending police officer returned the black handbag and the items inside to the respective stores. Raja said: 'Shoplifting is pathetic. The more stock stores like mine and other stores lose from shoplifting, the more they have to increase prices to compensate, and that hits the honest customers,' he said. He said: 'If I'm here with one member of staff, I am scared to leave my store, leaving just a girl there. 'Sometimes the girls have got scared because you get drug addicts coming in - shouting - it's just a joke. 'All the crack heads like to hang out on the top of the street and they shoplift to feed their habits.' A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: 'A 44-year-old woman was arrested and bailed pending further enquiries.' Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.