A shop lifter who stole a Christmas gift set from an Ely store returned to hand it back and to apologise – hours after CCTV images were plastered over social media.

The apologetic shoplifter returned to Little Roos in Ely High Street and told owners how sorry he was that he had taken the gift set.

The store has decided to accept the apology and to close the book on the incident.

“We would like to thank everyone for their support after our recent post about theft,” Little Roos posted to their Facebook page.

“It is lovely to have so many people come together to offer their support.”

The shop statement added: “We are delighted to say that the person who took the item has just now returned it and has apologised for taking it in the first place.

“As the item has been returned to us in perfect condition we will not be taking any further action with this and have advised the police accordingly.”

Little Roos say they have removed the images and their original post “and would be grateful if as many people as possible could please remove their shared posts of this. “We feel that after bringing the item back we do not need to have the original post and shares on Facebook.”

The shop statement added: “Thank you all again for your help and support with this it is very much appreciated.”

CCTV images of two suspected shoplifters – who took their baby with them into Little Roos whilst they carried out their theft – were widely circulated.

Little Roos had shared the photos after checking their CCTV following the theft of gift sets: they had also sent the photos to Cambridgeshire Police.

On their Facebook the store had said: “We are very sad and angry to say that we have had a theft from our little shop today.

“A man and woman with a child in a pushchair have been into the shop and whilst the woman distracted me asking about welly boots the man took one of our lovely Petit Bateau gift sets containing two body suits and put it up his jumper.

“He was then brazen enough to say on his way out how he liked little shops like this because you get free sweets.”

The shop statement added: “We have a tub of sweets on our counter for our customers.

“The woman had been into the shop earlier to look around while the man remained outside and then they came in together, obviously with a clear intention and they took what they wanted.

“We have clear images of both of the culprits from our CCTV system and these images with details of what was taken have been passed onto the police.

“There is also full video footage of the theft taking place which has been passed on to the police.”

Their statement added: “A lot of hard work and money goes into starting up and running a small, family run independent business and to have some people come in and steal from you really does hurt. It is very upsetting to have had this happen.”