A “hypnotist thief” apparently put the owner of an upmarket off-licence in a trance before rifling through his trouser pockets and stealing the day’s takings.

Friends today said Aftab Haider, 56, the owner of independent wine merchants Hops and Pops in Highgate, north London, was “stunned” by the theft of hundreds of pounds in cash.

The raid mirrors techniques used as entertainment by street magicians and is the first time its use in crime has been captured on CCTV in the UK.

The suspect, an Eastern European man wearing a black bomber jacket, brushed past Mr Haider as he placed a bottle on a shelf, and gently tapped him on the arm.

A few seconds later, the suspect made a stabbing gesture with his right hand at eye-level which appeared to leave Mr Haider, known as Aziz, mesmerised.

He reached inside the motionless shop owner’s trouser pocket, and pulled out his wallet before briefly squeezing his shoulder.

The thief, who kept up a quietly-spoken patter throughout, then mimed the gesture of a pregnant woman’s belly as Mr Haider turned to face him.

He reached into his other pocket and pulled out the day’s takings, hundreds of pounds in a bundle of notes, before tapping him once more on the shoulder and quickly walking out.

Mr Haider snapped out of the trance a few seconds later, and shouted “Oi, oi, excuse me...” as the suspect pushed past another customer and hurried off into Archway Road.

Scotland Yard today released the shop’s CCTV footage which captured the bizarre incident at around 9.45pm on September 11.

A friend of Mr Haider today told the Standard: “We had no idea Aziz had been hypnotised. When he told me what happened I just thought, how could he have just let someone hug him and start going through his pockets?

“He said he just suddenly realised the man had stolen from him and ran out of the shop to find him but he got away.

“He had hundreds of pounds stolen from him. It’s worrying if people can do that, other people might do the same.”

Detective Sergeant Dave Bullock said: “The victim remained motionless and unable to stop the robbery taking place. He said that he was momentarily unaware of what had happened to him.

“The suspect’s distraction tactics appeared to have worked as he robbed the victim of cash from his pocket.“

Hops and Pops is an independent wine merchant which stocks fine wines, craft ales and champagne.

BBC Three magician Damien O’Brien suggested the Mr Haider may have been previously hypnotised by the man to implant “trigger” words into his subconscious, suggesting the suspect had visited the shop in advance.

He said: “You can never hypnotise someone on the first go, you warm them up. I would have thought he has already gone in there before and done some pre-suggestive stuff.

“He may have said on an earlier visit that the next time he comes in and touches the man on the shoulder he is going to go into a relaxed trance and will let him go into his pockets.

“The shoulder touch could be a trigger.”

Mr O’Brien, who once hypnotised some of his 37,000 followers on Twitter, added: “A lot of entertainers who do hypnotism do pick-pocketing but only for an audience and they always give the stuff back. As a crime it isn’t something you hear about.”

Hypnotist shoplifting, while unusual, has been reported before with a series of thefts at supermarkets in north Italy in 2008.

In every case, the last thing staff remembered was the thief leaning over and saying: “Look into my eyes”, before finding their till empty.

In 2006, illusionist Derren Brown hypnotised four City workers into carrying out a staged £100,000 “heist” on a bank’s security guard.

The suspect is between 30 and 35 years old, of Eastern European appearance, around 5ft 8in tall, slim with short black hair and wore dark jeans, a grey polo shirt and a black bomber jacket with white writing just below the collar.

Anyone with information should call police on 020 3276 3158 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

How the technique works

Hypnotherapist Jack Raymond, who has 20 years experience and works out of practices in Harley Street and Covent Garden, said: “There no doubt he is a very slick, competent and practiced hypnotist.

“This is someone who could have learnt it from a book or on the internet but he would have practiced considerably. He would have done this before. It could have taken him weeks but likely months to perfect. It takes some people many years.”

He said there were two possible techniques he could have used, rapid induction or post-hypnotic suggestion.

He said under rapid induction he would have been able to tap him on the shoulder and speak to him in such a way that he quickly became hypnotised on their first meeting, He said to do this he would be highly-skilled.

He said: “Some people are much more subjective to this than others. There are very sub-conscious techniques, He would have spoken to him and touched him in such a way to raise suspicions and quickly put the man under his control.”

“After this the movement of his own hands around the stomach (when talking about his wife being pregnant) would probably be so the man would not come out of his state when he put his hands into the man’s pockets again to steal from him. It would have kept him distracted.”

“He would not have been in a deep hypnosis because the shopkeeper comes out of it very quickly once the thief stops talking to him.”

“It is possible he had access to him before. That way he would have triggers, such as touching him on the shoulder and the things that he said to him that would hypnotise him again.”

“This technique is post-hypnotic suggestion. But the question is how would he have had access to him before to hypnotise him and the man not remember him.”

“Unless of course he had made him forget the first meeting.”

He said he believed the other man in the CCTV who appears in the doorway and then enters in the shop could be an accomplice who helps distract the shopkeeper so the hypnotist’s techniques work easier.

He said it was the first time he had heard of such techniques being used to steal in London. He said: “It obviously degrades my profession and hypnotism when it is used for crime.”



Matt Watts