A FARMER from Hampshire was so fed up with people stealing from his shop that he launched his own “Rogues Gallery”.

Andrew Draper grew so desperate to track down thieves who were targeting luxury candles he decided to take the law into his own hands.

Now the co-owner of Pickwell Farm has come under fire after uploading a series of CCTV screen shots to social media and displaying a Rogues Gallery in the farm shop calling for people to help him track them down.

The drastic decision came after a spate of thefts in the past two months at the Bursledon farm.

Mr Draper says he was attempting to “name and shame” those responsible.

The gallery shows men and women suspected of stealing £21.99 Yankee Candles. Mr Draper asked customers to name anyone they recognised after an estimated 18 were stolen.

But Mr Draper, who runs the farm with his family, has been forced to apologise after wrongly naming one of the women.

He said: “I now realise what I did was very poorly judged and I am 100 per cent in the wrong - I am very sorry about what I did.

"I decided to take this drastic action because over the past few months we have noticed an increasing amount of thefts of Yankee Candles.

"We’ve had around 18 go missing, and I was becoming more and more fed up about it.

"I did report the thefts to police but only after I uploaded the images, I wanted to get the message out there and ask for customers’ help tracking down the people.”

Since uploading the images Mr Draper has said he found the identity of a women and a man and confronted them telling her not to come to the store anymore.

He added: “I have tried to deal with it on my own, I see how that was a mistake now.

"We have stepped up our security at the store and are reviewing how we can improve it.

"Meanwhile we have also taken all the more expensive candles off the shelves.”

A police spokeswoman confirmed the force had received a reports of candle thefts at the farm which officers were investigating.

She added: “We would urge business owners and individuals with private CCTV who believe they have footage of a crime taking place to report the matter to police to ensure a thorough and fair investigation.

“For crime prevention purposes, should a business owner wish to highlight a person they want staff to be alerted to, we would advise them to only display images of that person in a private part of the premises so that it cannot be viewed by the public.

“If someone is unhappy around the use of an image in this capacity, of themselves or a member of their family, we would advise them to seek civil legal assistance.”

Daily Echo:

ANDREW Draper has now been forced to apologise to the woman he wrongly named as a thief - and may face legal action.

Georgia May Lucas, 22, from Thornhill, Southampton, was outraged after discovering she had been ‘named and shamed’. 

Georgia, an avid candle collector and regular customer at the Pickwell Farm shop, said she was ‘disgusted’ about the incident. 

The 22-year-old shift manager said: “I couldn’t believe it, I would never steal.

"For someone to believe that I stole candles and just go ahead and assume it’s me, publishing that for everyone to see instead of going to police with my name, is outrageous.” 

Georgia and her mother Dena, 54, confronted Mr Draper at the farm shop and he immediately took down the board with the images and names and apologised and corrected his error on Facebook. 

He posted: “I’m afraid I’ve made a serious mistake in naming Georgia May Lucas in pictures of stealing Yankee Candles.

"It has now come to my attention this is not her and I’m very sorry to her and her family for any upset caused.”

Georgia and Dena confirmed they were likely to take legal action against Mr Draper.