A MAN is hoping to rebuild his life after a high-profile incident in which he and his brother tried to shame a thief.

Andrew Cremer has moved from Tiptree to Clacton to make a new start after a stunt cost him his business.

He was involved in an incident, in September 2008, in which suspected thief Mark Gilbert was ambushed and tied up.

The brothers and two other men then marched him through Witham town centre, wearing a sign proclaiming him a thief.

But the four men involved were then arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment.

Both Andrew and his brother, Simon Cremer, were also asked to leave the premises they rented for their flooring business, in Witham, after the incident.

Now, Andrew is hoping to put the past behind him and has taken over the Kaywoods pet, aquatic and reptile shop, in Old Road, Clacton.

He said: “It is a whole new start to life for me.

“I have signed a ten-year lease at Kaywoods and I would really like to see that ten years out.

“It has been a Clacton business for 40-odd years, so I wanted to keep that name going.”

He added both he and his brother had paid dearly for the incident.

Andrew said: “We have somehow got to put our lives back together. My whole life fell apart because of this situation.

“There are many ways of dealing with this sort of thing.

“We thought we would do it the right way, but it has ripped our lives apart.”

Andrew and Simon Cremer stood trial at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on charges of unlawful imprisonment, but the charges were dropped after they agreed to be bound over to keep the peace.

Mark Gilbert received a caution for theft.