THE owner of a garden machinery store near Malvern has praised police for their fast response after a break-in.

Chris Yarnold of Leigh Sinton Garden Machinery praised officers for their speedy reactions after their premises was broken into in the early hours of December 11.

He said: “Luckily our security is the best of the best so the police were on the scene before we were.

"It takes about 15 minutes for me to get here so for them to get there as quickly as they did is great.

"They gained access by removing the doors from the front of the building and ripping out wires.

“We looked at our camera footage and a few hours earlier they came over and smashed all the LED lights which caused a disturbance. Because of that they vanished off and didn’t come back till later on.”

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Mr Yarnold, who runs the business alongside Dean Hurst, said he wanted to warn other business owners in the area in case the intruders come back.

He said: “As soon as it happened I rang my old boss who works in the area to say to look out. If those people are doing the rounds in the area they could come back.

"We have already got new doors and locks which have cost us about £3,000.

“They didn’t take anything but if they had got in and taken anything the cost to replace could have been much higher. It is a really good job the systems we have worked and slowed them down.

“I would like to praise the police for sending two cars to the premises and one blocking the lane. They really did their job well.”

Mr Yarnold said they had CCTV images of the people who broke in, but all four of them were wearing balaclavas.

Anyone with information can call West Mercia Police on 01 quoting incident number 22/115809/19.

Alternatively, information can be passed on anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.