Cash machine ripped from wall of Market Harborough shop

The raid involving a JCB digger to bulldoze out the shop wall, happened at around 2.40am today (Friday) at the Spar shop in Coventry Road.

Five men wearing balaclavas were involved in the raid, which lasted around six minutes. The gang then escaped in a white Audi hatchback, leaving the JCB and a Landrover at the scene.

Eyewitness Sarah Cleaver, who lives in flats overlooking the shop, told the Mail: "We were woken at 2.40am by this huge bang. It felt like a bomb had gone off.

"I ran into the kitchen and saw the side wall of the Spar smashed by the JCB and five men in balaclavas all scrabbling round in there, and removing money in like cases from the cash machine. It was surreal to see it.

"They were noisy, shouting in a very distinct accent. One of them seemed to be called Derek, because the man who seemed to be the leader shouted "hurry up Derek" twice."

She said she rang the police at 2.41am, but couldn't get through.

Another eyewitness on Coventry Road said: "There was a massive bang that woke me up and lots of shouting.

" I couldn't really see well because car lights were shining across the road into my bedroom window, but I realised what was going on and phoned the police."

This morning the Spar shop was closed and the area cordoned off as police investigated the latest in a long line of ATM machine burglaries.

In the Harborough district alone there have been four in recent months - at Great Glen, Lutterworth, Kibworth and now Market Harborough.

It could be that two different gangs are targeting the area - one that uses a bulldozer to break into the cash machines, and one that favours explosive gas canisters.

South Leicestershire MP, Alberto Costa, has asked for an urgent meeting with Leicestershire's Chief Constable Simon Cole about the cash machine crime wave in Leicestershire.

Mr Costa has said he is "deeply concerned" about the spate of cash machine robberies in his constituency and across the county.