Police warning over new viral trend of ‘beaning’ as so-called bean bandits strike in Sussex

Police are warning shop workers to keep an eye out for any unusual baked bean purchases after a messy new TikTok trend hit the county.
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‘Beaning’ is where so-called ‘bean bandits’ buy large quantities of the popular tinned goods before dumping them on an unsuspecting victim’s doorstep.

And now the rogues – who often film their messy mayhem and upload it to TikTok gaining hundreds of thousands of views – have struck in Sussex.

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Inspector Darren Taylor of Mid Sussex Police said a 73-year-old woman in East Grinstead woke to find two tins of baked beans covering her front door after hearing a ‘peculiar noise’ in the dead of night.

Sussex PoliceSussex Police
Sussex Police

He warned the act was criminal damage and said if the culprits struck the same property more than once it could constitute harassment.

But this isn’t the first time bean bandits have targeted Sussex – in July eggs and baked beans were thrown at a house in Haywards Heath.

Inspector Taylor is now urging shop workers to look out for any unusually large purchases from demographics who may not normally be known for their love of the tomato sauce based product which is often placed on top of toast and more recently Weetabix.

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He said: “It’s like when we get to Halloween we always ask the shops to be a bit more robust when people of a certain age – buy up boxes of eggs.

“If you do have youngsters come in buying tins of baked beans up and you think it’s not the normal purchases if you can be robust then please do.”

But he said it’s difficult to control and monitor the sale of baked beans to potential bandits.