POLICE are following a positive line of enquiry after a would-be thief was filmed trying to steal a collection tin in memory of a Hawick child cancer victim.

CCTV from an off-licence shop in Hawick shows the callous culprit was easily foiled by a chain attached to the box containing donations for a charity associated with 13-year-old Anthony Mundell.

He then went through the charade of pretending to have forgotten his wallet before leaving Teviot Wines on Monday evening.

Shop owner Andrew Bannerman put the footage on Facebook in an attempt to name and shame the culprit assuming that police would not be able to identify him.

However, the clip caused such an outrage in Hawick and viewed more than 10,000 times that police became aware and they are now pursing a suspect.

Anthony, from Hawick, died in 2009 of a rare type of kidney cancer.

The Anthony Mundell Memorial Fund supports the families of children suffering from cancer and other life-limiting illnesses, as well as bereaved parents.

The footage shows the bungling burglar attempt to pick up the charity box at 5.11pm and put it inside his jacket.

He doesn’t seem to expect the box to be attached to the till by a chain and looks panicked before putting it back down.

A shop assistant then appears from the back office, having heard the doorbell.

The would-be robber then asked for a packet of cigarettes, he can then be seen patting his pockets and leaving the store.

Staff were suspicious and checked the CCTV.

Shop owner, Andrew Bannerman, said: “I didn’t think he could be charged so I never actually called the police. Officers came to the shop and they want to charge him with attempted theft.

“There is a buzzer on the door so the shop assistant came through when she heard him, he asked for a packet of cigarettes and then patted his pockets and said he would come back.

“Over the course of the year we raise about £500 from that box for Anthony Mundell’s charity, it fills up very fast.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Police in the Scottish Borders are currently following a positive line of enquiry in connection with the attempted theft of a charity box from a shop in the Tower Knowe area of Hawick on Monday March 12.”