A BRAZEN thief casually walked into a town centre shop and and stole a valuable model car kit from a shelf.

Staff at Bolton Model Mart say the crime has left them distrustful and paranoid and they have released CCTV images in the hope that the public can help them catch the culprit.

On Thursday the kit worth £385 was snatched from its shelves.

Assistant manager Ashley Timms was working in the back of the Great Moor Street store with a colleague on Thursday, while another staff member was helping a member of the public, when they believe the theft took place.

He said: “This person was just so efficient, the box wasn’t even in an accessible place. It was above the counter and they had to manoeuvre around a display to get at it.

“That’s what makes us think it might have been planned out. It is pretty disgusting and brazen.

“We are paranoid now of anyone who comes in who we might not know.

“Any help we can get is really appreciated. It would be great to get some justice. That’s the worst thing — we can replace the model but not that feeling of distrust.”

The theft of the remote control HPI Savage X SS model, which is worth £385, took place at around 1.30pm.

The CCTV images released show a man in a fur-lined hat and high-vis jacket taking a box from the shelf and walking out of the door of the shop, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in November this year.

Staff are asking anyone with information to get in touch with them or police and are offering a £50 gift card reward for information that will lead to the arrest of the thief.

Mr Timms added: “He was in for a short period of time, it was about a minute and a half.

“By the time we realised what was going on he had already made his getaway.

“We are a very small indepedent business. We are quite trusting and have very loyal customers.

“Within a day of putting up an appeal on Facebook we had hundreds of people sharing it and trying to help.

“It’s really heartwarming and nice to know there are still people out there willing to stand up and support each other.”

A police spokesman said: “No one has been arrested in connection with the incident and inquiries are ongoing.”