A Stockton primary school has finally unmasked an unlikely thief after cartons of milk were continually and mysteriously disappearing off school grounds.
CCTV from St Gregory’s Catholic Academy in Stockton-on-Tees caught the culprit after the school’s office manager decided to play detective and solve the mystery once and for all.
The sneaky creature can be seen mincing across the school car park and field carrying a total of ten of the large cartons in its mouth at 3:40AM on June 27 over several trips.
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Since then, the school has affectionately nicknamed the animal Gregory and say the younger pupils of the school have loved seeing the footage and solving the mystery once and for all.
A spokesperson for the school said: “Initially, we believed that our milk order was not arriving at school, but after contacting the dairy they confirmed that it had been delivered.
“We knew that the milk was delivered within our school grounds, and it would be very difficult for someone to steal it over the school fence. With this in mind, our office manager, Mrs Scott, decided to play detective and began monitoring our security cameras.
“After a little while, we saw Gregory the Fox carrying 10 cartons of milk across the car park, under the fence and across our school field.”
Despite the missing milk, the school has confirmed that the fox has captured the hearts of parents and children who have created a sort of urban legend of why the fox needed the milk.
St Gregory’s added: “The Early Years children have loved hearing the story of why they haven't always had their milk over the last few weeks. They couldn't wait to see the footage and show their parents and family, so we decided to share the video to our Facebook page, and we are overwhelmed by the response.
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“We can only imagine that Gregory has been really enjoying and sharing the milk with their friends and family.”
Comments on the schools' Facebook posts suggest the foxes are commonly spotted in the Roseworth area of Stockton, with one commenter naming it the “Fantastic Mr Fox”.
St Gregory’s has also said their dairy supplier has since replenished the milk stock after Gregory’s 3AM run, with the only question being: will he strike again?
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