A British tourist has made a grovelling apology after he was caught on camera stealing cash dropped by a woman at a supermarket checkout.<br /><br />Charles Edward Coote, 79, had been ''running low on money'' after staying for two months in the vibrant Soi 17 street in the red light city of Pattaya, eastern Thailand.<br /><br />Supermarket CCTV shows how he noticed local woman Pratumrat Maymum, 30, drop two 1,000 baht (£25) notes while paying for her groceries on Monday (June 10). <br /><br />Charles, from Barking, east London, waited for her to leave then covered the cash with his foot before pocketing it. <br /><br />The woman only noticed the missing money, the equivalent of £50 when she returned home. She rushed back to the store to check what had happened and was shocked when she watched back the incident on the cameras.<br /><br />Pratumrat said that after she complained to police, Coote contacted her to apologise and return the money. She met him yesterday (June 13) at the supermarket where he made a ''tearful apology''.<br /><br />Speaking today (June 14) Pratumrat said: ''He contacted me and said he wanted to give the money back. I went to meet him and he was nearly crying. He had tears in his eyes.<br /><br />''He said he had been staying in Thailand for two months and was running low on money. It’s still not an excuse for stealing.''<br /><br />The victim said that she was happy with Charles' apology and did not want him to be prosecuted. <br /><br />Local police who had been investigating the theft agreed not to take it any further. Charles left without being arrested and is free to continue his trip.<br /><br />Pratumrat added: ''I want to thank everybody who helped me. Now I have my money back. <br /><br />''It might be a small amount of money for some people, but for me it’s a lot.''<br /><br />Investigating officer, Police Captain Nakhonrat Nonsrisard, said the matter had been resolved privately. <br /><br />He added: ‘’The suspect apologised and said he would not do it again. He returned the money so we’re not continuing with prosecution.’’
