A shop owner opening for a day's trading was shocked to discover his store window smashed - and a shoe left behind. 

It was left by what appears to be a drunken reveller kicking out at a window, smashing it and finding his foot stuck. 

Pete Butler of the Bridport PC Repair Shop on East Street issued an appeal to the vandal through social media telling them they could have their shoe back in exchange for a repaired window.

Mr Butler and a colleague reviewed shop CCTV footage of the offence, which took place in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The footage showed a man who appeared to be drunk kicking out at a shop window. His foot got stuck and he had to be pulled out by his friend, leaving his right foot's black trainer behind.

Dorset Echo:

Owner Pete Butler said: “Judging from the video, there had been a fight in town and he was coming back from that.

"To be honest, it looks like a typical Saturday night drunken rage thing, he wasn't targeting my place directly, just lashing out about something. It is just a shame he didn't kick a bin or something.”

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Mr Butler appealed to the vandal's better nature: ‘If the chap that decided to put my shop window through at half three this morning woke up missing a shoe, I've got it if you want it back... You left it behind inside my shop. Got a lovely picture of you though. I'll swap it for a repaired window, sounds fair to me?’

His request has gone unanswered.

“I was a bit surprised by the response on Facebook, it was only a nice offer to the guy before I went forward to the police," said Mr Butler.

“In the past, we’ve had someone kick our sign in, but after a bit of Facebooking the guy came forward and made good on it, so it was put to bed.”

The window pane, approximately the size of an A4 sheet of paper, has already been replaced.

Dorset Police said: "It is reported that at around 3.30am on Sunday, March 19, 2023 damage was caused to the window of a shop in East Street in Bridport. Enquiries are ongoing and no arrests have been made.”

The Bridport PC Repair Shop is an independent business that opened in 2016 offering computer repair to the Bridport, Lyme Regis, Dorchester and Weymouth areas. Operated by Mr Butler and one other colleague, it recently won the Bridport Business Award for best Independent business of 2023.