A NUMBER of businesses in Westbury have been targeted by raiders as the spate of break-ins continues.

Last Friday nearly £5,000 was stolen from the Cinnamon Lounge restaurant in High Street and this weekend three more businesses in the same street were targeted on Saturday night.

A safe which contained around £700 was stolen from Excel Hairdressers while the suspects also tried to get into Age UK and the White Horse Café.

The manager of Excel, Maureen Moth, has been raising money over the past year so that her daughter, Leanda Alatoum, can have stem cell therapy to help her Multiple Sclerosis.

Mrs Moth said: “I’m absolutely devastated to be honest.

“For something like this to happen after we’ve been fundraising for a year is gutting.

“They managed to jimmy the back door open and then took the safe off the wall even though it was secured to it.

“It’s just unfortunate that my business was the one they managed to get into and I really hope they're caught."

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said enquiries are ongoing to try and catch the suspects.

An employee of Age UK, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “The back door was damaged where they tried to break in but thankfully no entry was gained.

"We feel sorry for the restaurant and hairdressers, it's shocking.

“Clearly more needs to be done to stop this but the police are doing all they can.

“Maybe we need more cameras pointing at the back of the shops – that’s something the town council might have to think about.

“Even though they didn’t get in, this kind of thing makes you feel very uneasy.

“We’ve been looking over our shoulders all day – for all we know they might have come into the shop to scout it out before trying to break in which is quite unsettling.”

Cherol North, manager of Dorothy House, said has not known a spate like this in her 11 years of running the shop and that ‘all businesses will no doubt be worried about it’.