A THIEF hid £100 worth of meat up her skirt as she walked out of a popular family-run farm shop.

The owners of Three Counties Produce have shared their disappointment after a woman stole a large quantity of meat by hiding it up her skirt.

Rob Thompson, who runs two stores in Worcester with his brother James, opened the Claines store a year ago and said they had never had a theft in the store before.

"This is a first one for us," he said.

"It is quite a nice area, and the residents are really good and supportive of us.

"It is a real shame when you are trying to do stuff for the community and to get backlash in this form when our back is turned.

"It is disappointing."

The theft affected the staff, who were disappointed they had not spotted it earlier, but Mr Thompson reassured them it was not their fault.

Three Counties Produce has now shared the incident on its Facebook page.

"We only shared it on social media to make other companies in the area aware of what they took in case they come into their store," he added.

"The theft seems to be done by professionals.

"The woman had put it up her skirt."

The incident occurred yesterday (Tuesday) at around 2.30pm and was reported to West Mercia Police. 

The Thompson brothers took over the former Gwillams farm shop in April 2023 and have been a busy food produce store in Claines since.

Three Counties Produce first opened on Church Street, Worcester,  and branched out to its Claines venue after wanting an out-of-the-city location.

At the time, Rob Thompson, said:  "It has been exciting to get an out-of-the-town site.

"We had been looking for years, and when we saw that Gwillam's Farm Shop was closing, we saw it as the perfect opportunity. 

"It has been extremely busy, and we have had extremely good feedback."