Bury St Edmunds market stallholder calls for more police patrols after £120 cushion stolen and other traders targeted

A Bury St Edmunds businesswoman who was left ‘shocked’ and ‘disheartened’ after an expensive item was stolen from her market stall is calling for more police patrols as other traders have been targeted.

Amy Willis, who has been running the Cottage & Co market stall since October, had a sheepskin cushion worth £120 stolen from her stall in Abbeygate Street on Saturday.

Amy, of Wickhambrook, said that a week before the incident another stallholder had their brand new mobile phone stolen. And on the Saturday at around 9am, a trader next door to Amy noticed that three of his hand-crafted signs were missing which put Amy into high-alert.

“There’s only so much you can do when you’ve got a crowd of customers and there is a bit of an honesty policy,” she said.

“I moved one of the sheepskin cushions to the left of the stall behind the counter just while I rearranged the display. When I had done the display I turned back to get the cushion and the cushion had disappeared – it was no longer there.

“I thought somebody couldn’t have possibly stolen such a large and expensive cushion. It was just disbelief really.

“We really work hard to get the best designs and the best products for our customers – we spend quite a lot of time putting everything out in the morning, rearranging it and packing it away to go home.

“There’s a lot of effort that goes into a market stall and for someone just to be targeting us because we’re easy pickings is really, really disheartening.”

Amy said that she saw a suspicious man in his late 30s/early 40s who was wearing dark clothes and with an expressionless face. She said he walked backwards away from the stall which she thought was strange.

Now Amy is calling on the police to carry out more patrols when the market is on to deter thieves and reassure traders.

“There is only so much we can do,” she added.

“We can’t install burglar alarms on our products or glass cabinets with things hidden away inside it. All these things shops can do, we can’t do.

“It’s really important to have a local market for people, but if thieves keep stealing from stallholders it’s going to make it difficult for them to continue because they won’t make enough money. So it is really important that the police offer more patrols to discourage thieves.”

To protect her stock in the meantime, she said she will ensure there is only one entrance and exit on her stall so she can monitor who comes and goes.

Suffolk Police confirmed they had received a report of theft from the Cottage & Co stall.

The cushion was labelled with Cottage & Co branding and measures at 57cm by 57cm.

Anyone with information should contact Suffolk Police on 101 quoting reference 37/73949/23.

A spokesperson added: “Since the beginning of the month, as part of the constabulary’s new police operating model, there has been an increase in high visibility patrols.

“Members of public and stall holders can be reassured they will be seeing an officer on market days where patrols are focused on the town centre.”