Videos posted on TikTok by ‘Axel’, allegedly showing thefts in Archway, that have have garnered millions of views

VIDEOS of alleged shoplifting in Archway have garnered millions of views on TikTok – but who is the mystery vigilante behind the camera?

At the start of April the anonymous account “@life.in.archway” began posting stealthily-filmed clips of people he says are piling Greggs wedges into their bags or strolling out with handfuls of sandwiches.

Some of the videos have since been viewed more than 2 million times.

This week, the Tribune tracked down the content creator – delivery driver Axel, a father of two in his 30s who has lived in Archway for 10 years.

Axel did not want his full name or photo published – he doesn’t want to blow his cover – but he told how worsening crime in the neighbourhood and a lack of police action made him take matters into his own hands.

On the day we met in Navigator Square, he had already seen someone running from the Co-op with a stack of 10 steaks under his arm.

“I hadn’t even had my coffee yet,” said Axel, who has worked as a delivery driver for nearly five years and submitted countless videos of local thefts to the police, but, he said nothing has ever come of it.

“My friends and family were saying, ‘why are you filming these people? Why don’t you open an account?’ But I didn’t decide to do it because of that – I thought maybe if I put these people on social media they may feel scared or stop doing what they’re doing.”

But it hasn’t had that effect so far.

“You can’t calculate them,” Axel added, of the number of perpetrators. “It’s a lot of the same people, but every day it’s more and more.”

Describing the regular offenders he sees nabbing anything from a Lucozade to a diamond necklace from shops around Archway, he said that some are visibly using drugs, but others are suited and booted – a woman in Gucci shoes, a man in expensive Nike trainers.

“These are not people that need to eat – if you know they are homeless, your mind can accept it,” Axel said. “But these people, every day they are taking food, choosing any shop they can see that doesn’t have security.”

Among thousands of comments on his videos, some people ask why he doesn’t step in to stop the alleged thieves himself.

But after being stabbed by a stranger in a random attack in 2018, Axel doesn’t want to put himself in harm’s way, and although his TikTok videos show people walking casually out of Greggs and Co-op, there have been “so many times” he has witnessed a store manager being attacked trying to stop someone stealing.

“I didn’t do anything and I got stabbed – so how can [commenters] expect me to do something about this?

“If one day one of these people is depressed, or takes more drugs, or loses control, he can be a danger. If I stop him, maybe he’ll hit me and I’ll get injured and be off work, and I’m the one who lost.”

The Met Police was contacted for a response, and directed us to a recent press release. It said: “Across London the Met is prioritising neighbourhood policing by putting more officers into local teams to tackle issues such as shoplifting.

“Officers are working with business owners to target the most prolific offenders who cause fear to retail workers and have a negative impact on communities.”