Not enough evidence to link two armed robberies at Tesco stores yet, say police

Officers are taking into account that the robbery at the Tesco superstore in Worcester Road, Evesham yesterday morning was almost identical to a robbery at Worcester's St Peter's store last month.

During both early morning robberies, three men wearing balaclavas used crowbars to force open the self service tills before making off with cash.

At about 12.40am yesterday, three men walked into the 24-hour store in Evesham while it was open to customers and began breaking into the tills with crowbars then shoved the cash into a holdall.

The trio, all wearing dark clothing, made off in a silver or grey coloured vehicle which was driven in the direction of the Greenhill and Worcester Road junction.

On Sunday, November 16, a gang of three men also forced their way into the closed St Peter's Drive store on Sunday, November 16 at 12.15am and threatened a staff member with a crowbar.

They also made off with money from the self scan tills - but police said they would not be revealing how much was taken in either robberies.

A Tesco spokesman said they were relieved no one was hurt but have declined to comment any further.

"It’s now a matter for the police and we’ll be helping them with their investigations in any way we can."

Speaking about the robbery in Evesham, detective inspector Andy Price, leading the investigation, urged anyone with information to call the non-emergency police number 101 quoting incident 16S of Tuesday 9 December.

“Thankfully nobody was injured during the incident.

"Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police take such offences very seriously and inquiries are ongoing to bring these offenders to justice and to protect people from harm."

“We are eager to hear from anyone who saw a car of this description in the area at the time."

Anyone with information about the armed robbery at Tesco, St Peter's Drive, Worcester, should also call 101 quoting reference number 14 of 16/11/2014.