An influencer is warning other women shopping in London’s West End “to beware” after CCTV caught the moment her new £10,000 Birkin bag was stolen as she tried on clothes at a boutique.
Model Janice Joostema, who boasts 1.2million followers on Instagram, said it had been “gut-wrenching” to watch a female thief swipe the item while she got undressed in a VIP changing room at Manière De Voir on Oxford Street.
Footage shows the suspect, dressed in a long white coat, prowl around the high-end shop waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.
Moments later, she brazenly opens the door to the changing area and sneaks in.
Ms Joostema had her back turned as she put on a top, adding: “She probably even saw me topless coming into the room and snatching it.”
In a bid to flee with the red Hermès JPG Birkin - which sell for around £10,700 - the thief is seen getting her other bag caught on a door handle.
She eventually frees herself and races down the stairs, also escaping with the victim’s purse inside the luxury item colloquially known as the “shoulder Birkin”.
Ms Joostema wrote on Instagram: “Londoners beware. Thieves are coming into dressing rooms when they see you turned, they are watching you while you are changing and naked just to steal your belongings.
“My brand new Hermès shoulder Birkin I had less than a week was stolen while I was turned around in this room changing into a top, I was facing away from the door as the room is all windows.
“She poked her head in twice, I was naive and thought maybe she was innocently looking for the bathroom or something.”
Although unharmed, Ms Joostema stated her passport taken at “the hands of this selfish individual”, adding she had to cancel her holiday to Switzerland.
She added: “To work so hard for something and it be taken like this, is gut-wrenching, for someone to purchase such items is a big deal, it’s not something small, and I don’t want to be materialistic but it’s the human morals and principle of the value of money and that cuts deep for someone who’s always dreamt of having an Hermès bag and it being taken like this.
“I believe everything happens for a reason but it’s really sad to know people exist in the world committing such acts of crime against other humans.”
The incident comes amid a spate of designer handbag thefts, with robbers targeting £600,000 worth of products from two showrooms in London just three weeks apart.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman told the Standard: “On Tuesday, December 17, following circulation of a video of the incident, officers contacted the victim of a theft that happened inside a shop in Oxford Street.
“No arrests have been made at this stage. This matter is under investigation.”
