Thief steals meat from Sheffield pub hours before funeral wake

The crook raided an outside fridge at The Peacock in Stannington at around 9pm yesterday.

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In a Facebook post on the pub’s page, the owners said: “We would just like to thank the kind person who has broken into our fridge over night and has stolen hundreds of pounds worth of meat.

“Not only have you stolen from a small family run business, you have out in jeopardy the jobs of many local people as we can not afford to just replace stock that goes missing and you have also stolen stock that was to be used to serve a funeral party due in today.

“I hope your very proud of yourselves and enjoy your steak dinner.”

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Owner David Briggs, aged 52, who has run the pub for 11 months, said he had to organise new supplies for the funeral buffet when the theft was discovered.

He said his pub has been targeted a number of times.

“We will only have been here for a year on May 22 but this isn’t the first time we have been targeted,” he said.

”They stole a barbecue and shelving before this. They just seem to think they can come and take anything they can lay their hands on.”

He said a number of local businesses have been targeted by thieves, with one shop hit three times in the last month.

“I would have liked to have told the police about it but I called 101 and was on hold for 40 minutes then I was passed to someone else and spent another 40 minutes on hold, so I just had to put the phone down in the end,” he said.

“I would like to see the police round here more but we know what it is like for them with cuts. There are not enough officers anymore.”

Anyone with information should call South Yorkshire Police on 101.