8:55am Tuesday 20th February 2007
By Fran Bardsley
Ramraiders reversed into an electrical store and stole plasma screen TVs worth thousands of pounds - but had to abandon their haul when police made chase.
Thieves drove into the window of WH Hammond & Son TV and Video Dealers, in Mill Street, Eynsham, at 3.10am today.
Damien Lewington, 27, who lives in the flat above the shop, was woken when he heard a loud noise. He saw a van reversing into the shop.
Mr Lewington, who works in retail advertising for Oxford Mail publishers Newsquest Oxfordshire, said: "At first I thought they were having a delivery but it's usually just one bloke who delivers and I heard three or four people.
"I was shocked because we were right above it and they could have done anything. If they wanted to get into our part of the building they could have and, if they clocked me or my flatmate, who knows what would have happened?"
Mr Lewington called the police.
Shop owner David Hammond was called by police at about 5.30am and arrived at his store 15 minutes later.
He said: "Part of the front was smashed and the grille was bent and you could see there had been a ramraid.
"They took eight plasma televisions worth about £6,000 to £7,000, but I hate to think how much it's going to cost in total because the whole of the front and the grilles will have to be replaced."
Mr Hammond could not open yesterday because the grilles were jammed shut, but hoped to reopen tomorrow.
He said additional security measures had been put in place following two similar attacks in the 1980s.
He said: "We were a bit more vulnerable then, but now we've got grilles and bollards and laminated glass, so we didn't think this would happen again.
"Nothing is 100 per cent foolproof in this day and age because of the ingenuity of these sorts of thieves. They will go to great lengths."
A police spokesman said a white van and a Subaru car were believed to be involved in the attempted theft.
Police followed the van into Gloucestershire before the offenders abandoned the vehicle. The stolen televisions were recovered by officers.
*A 19-year-old man, who has not been named, has been arrested on suspicion of burglary.
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