A Tooting burglar will spend the next year behind bars, but the shop owner who was targeted believes the police response wasn't up to scratch.

Victoria Clayton runs the High Street restaurant Tota and was subject to two separate burglaries over the past few months where she said "a lot of booze" was taken.

"One of the burglars had a very familiar face, I was sure I had seen him around Tooting Broadway," Ms Clayton said.

"The police, I have to say, were quite useless and it was just another of the 1000’s of crimes that happen in our metropolis every day.

"Christmas came, Christmas went and last week I received a call to say the case was closed."

The Met dispute this though and say they took the incident very seriously.

"We are however satisfied that we responded to the best of our abilities when both burglaries occurred," a spokesman said.

"With regards the first incident on December 21, CCTV had been retrieved and an investigation was underway."

Then on February 22, the 49-year-old was awoken to news that her store had been broken into once more.

Three hours later she received a call from a friend who said he had spotted a man who looked eerily like the person was caught on CCTV back in December.

"As he was telling me this a police car drove past me," Ms Clayton added.

"I flagged them down and asked them to come to Tooting Broadway tube, where I was sure we would find the perpetrator.

"They attended and when I asked them to help me scour the vicinity where I was told I may find this person, they declined to help.

"We are too busy to go to every betting shop in Tooting Broadway, I was told."

At this point she said she decided to take matters into her own hands.

She scoured the area and eventually found the man she was looking for.

The police were called and the criminal was eventually found in the women's bathroom.

But Mrs Clayton was furious at what she believes was a lackadaisical response by the officers.

"If the police got out of their cars and patrolled the streets they could have picked this guy up themselves," she said.

"The fact that we gave the police excellent information, yet they failed to act on it, is criminal in itself."

The spokesman for the Met said that while they did not yet have all the details surrounding the allegations, they were pleased with the overall response to the incident.

"Until we can establish the identities of the officers in the vehicle who were flagged down by the victim, we are unable to comment on this interaction," he said

"With regards the second incident on February 22, officers attended promptly and the scene was examined for forensic evidence.

"When the victim called police later that morning having located the suspect in a betting shop, officers attended quickly and after a search of the venue he was arrested, and subsequently charged and jailed."

Sajid Hussain, 48, of Upper Tooting Road, pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on February 23.

He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.