A Workington trader said she won't be beaten by thieves after CCTV footage of a shoplifter at her Workington shop went viral.

Julie Cass, who owns Akitts on Campbell Savours Way, uploaded the video to her business's Facebook page.

It has been seen almost 30,000 times.

It shows a man wearing a baseball hat entering the shop and quickly putting two Yankee Candles into a carrier bag and leaving without paying.

Mrs Cass said: "We put CCTV cameras in the shop about six months ago because we knew there was a problem with missing stock.

"Fragrances and candles are particularly targeted and it's a problem across all stores with this kind of item.

"I uploaded the video to highlight the problem. We're a local family business who have been trading in this town for 30 years."

The incident happened on Thursday around lunchtime.

Mrs Cass said she was overwhelmed by the amount of support she received from people following the release of the footage on social media.

Mrs Cass said: "We've had a lot of support from people, which I'm really thankful for. We won't be beaten.

"We will catch them and we'll do everything we can to combat shoplifting."

Mrs Cass said she did not report the matter to the police on this occasion, but police have been involved in tackling thieves at her shop in previous incidents.

She said: "Because you can't see the face of the man on the footage, we thought that maybe someone who knows him would be able to identify him and then we could go to the police with the evidence.

"I have caught people stealing in the past and restrained them until the police arrived and so did my husband."

Mrs Cass said shoplifting had a negative effect on her staff.

She said: "It has knocked them because they feel responsible if it happens on their watch, some staff get paranoid.

"It's upsetting that we have to look at everybody, you feel awful judging everyone that walks in because most of them are genuine customers. It's sad."

Mrs Cass said shoplifting was an issue across the town centre.

She added: "It's something we have talked about at traders' meetings.

"CCTV is certainly a deterrent and now we have a security guard coming in at different times.

"We try our best and do everything we can to stop shoplifting."

Cumbria police said they would like to encourage people to report any crime by calling 101.