Corsham pub raided

9:49am Friday 22nd February 2008

THE owner of a Corsham pub and hotel has spoken of his distress after thieves ransacked his premises and made off with thousands of pounds as guests slept upstairs.

Professional burglars cut a safe from the wall of the office at the Methuen Arms in High Street, to get to the cash inside.

Around £3,000, a projector and a digital camera were all taken in the early hours of the morning on St Valentine's Day.

Owner Malcolm Clowes was woken up at around 4.45am to the sound of banging downstairs.

He got up from his bed and went downstairs, but by the time he reached the hotel's office the thieves had gone.

"We caught what happened on CCTV and there was one man with a crowbar, so it's probably lucky that I didn't come face to face with him," he said.

"The whole safe was taken off the wall, they were determined to get what was inside.

"They had also cut through the locks on a window to get in and made their way to the office where the safe was."

Mr Clowes, who took over the pub and hotel about 15 months ago and runs it with his stepson Mark Thompson, said since the break-in they had beefed up security.

Installing alarm systems at the front of the hotel had proved tricky in the past because of guests coming in and out.

But now Mr Clowes has installed new cameras, which link directly his flat and an alarm system at the hotel, which sleeps 40 people.

Mr Clowes said: "I reckon they were in here for about 45 minutes and I don't know how many of them there were but our CCTV only captured one man.

"I didn't hear a car or anything outside when they left."

The man caught on camera is described as being in his 30s and he was wearing a white Lonsdale top, dark tracksuit trousers, a bobble hat and a scarf around his mouth.

Around the time of the raid a taxi was stolen from outside the hotel but it was later recovered in Swindon. It is not yet clear whether the two incidents are linked.

PC Stephen Hughes, of Chippenham police, said although there had been similar incidents across the county, it was a rare occurrence for Corsham.

He said: "There were laptops around that weren't taken, but we can't be sure if that was because they were disturbed or not."

PC Hughes said police were investigating the raid and appealing for witnesses to come forward. Call 0845 408 7000 with any details.

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