Thousands stolen in town raids

1:08pm Friday 2nd May 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

TWO businesses in Corsham were left out of pocket after thieves used crowbars to break-in and steal thousands of pounds.

Burglars broke into the Three Brewers Pub in Priory Street on Sunday night, stealing a safe containing the whole weekend's takings.

Landlady Isabel Wright said she had forgotten to set the alarm that night and was asleep upstairs at the time of the raid.

She said: "They took the whole safe, which was in a cupboard, after they wrenched open the fire door with a crowbar.

"I don't want to say how much money was inside but it was in the thousands.

"They also took the contents of the cigarette machine and some tobacco from behind the bar."

The landlady, who has run the pub for a year said she always sets the alarms, but had forgotten that one time.

"I suppose in a way it is lucky that we didn't hear the alarms go off because they obviously had an iron bar and who knows whether they would have used it if I had come down," she said.

"There is only so much I can do to protect myself and we do have a good security system in place.

"Obviously I am a lot poorer now and I am going to have to consider putting bars on all the doors now.

"I don't hear anything down in the pub if I am upstairs asleep and my bedroom door was closed too."

As well as the attack on the pub, a nearby hairdressing salon was broken into on the same night.

Snips, at number 2 Pickwick, had its front door wrenched open in a carbon copy raid.

Hairdresser Lucy Maidment said: "We don't know what time it happened but it was either late on Sunday night or in the early hours of Monday morning.

"About £200 was taken from our tip money and they also took a few charity boxes.

"They came through the front door, which was wrenched open with a crowbar and we didn't have an alarm so no one was alerted to it at the time."

Corsham Sergeant Steve McGrath said: "These were unusual break-ins for the area and although they look as though they were connected we are not excluding the possibility that they were carried out by different people.

"We have been looking at people, but enquiries are still ongoing. Anyone with any information or anyone that comes across a discarded safe should call us on 0845 4087000."

The break-ins follow an incident in February, when the Methuen Arms Hotel in High Street was broken into. Thieves made off with the safe and the thousands of pounds inside.