A BARBER had his takings and mobile phone stolen by a man who walked in and distracted him while he was cashing up at the store.

Richard Bonnett is offering a reward for information leading to the conviction of the man who ran away after taking the cash.

He told how he was closing his RJ’s Barber Shop in High Street, Newhaven, at about 5pm last Thursday when the man walked in.

He said: “He did not really talk good English – he had a newspaper under his arm and he tried to walk up to my chair.

“I said: ‘Excuse me I am closed’ and he leaned over the side of the chair and he was trying to sort of say as if his mother had done it [his hair].

“He opened the newspaper – a foreign newspaper – trying to explain something to me in his language and all of a sudden he stepped back to the area where the till was.

“I was trying to say: ‘Excuse me. Can you leave the shop,’ and with that he had taken my mobile phone and all the bags of cash that were there.”

Mr Bonnett, 51, later discovered personal data from his phone had been taken from an online data store, meaning he had to change all his passwords.

He added: “I can’t stand people going around doing this kind of thing. We don’t need people doing this to small and local businesses.

“It shook me up and I have not been able to sleep for nearly three days. “You are nervous in the shop on your own – all of a sudden I have become like a nervous wreck. I will be working for free for the next week.”

Mr Bonnett described the culprit as smartly dressed, wearing a black leather jacket, aged between 28 and 30, and of Indian appearance.

He added: “People in Newhaven have been so supportive. It is a great little community.”

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: “We were called shortly before 8.30pm on January 22 to a report that a man had stolen cash and a mobile phone from a shop in High Street, Newhaven.

“The man is believed to have grabbed the cash and phone from near the till.”

Anyone with information should email 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk quoting serial 1406 of January 22, call 101, or contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.