A VETERAN barber is furious after burglars broke into his shop and stole a bottle of Jim Beam bourbon whiskey.

The criminals caused about £500 worth of damage during the burglary and got away with a camera and about £100 from the till.

The incident happened between 6.40pm on Thursday, April 20, and 8.30am on Friday, April 21.

Jon Bourne, who owns the shop, said: "They came in through the back. According to forensics, they smashed a pane of glass in the back door and then they got in.

"They also got a couple of offices upstairs, which are kept locked. Both of those offices were broken into. It's all boarded up and we have new locks.

"How dare these people break in, take what they want and disappear?

"It's galling and very frustrating. I've been barbering in Worcester for 30 years and my father was a barber for 55 years. We are serving a community."

The 45-year-old said the police found blood on one of the surfaces and footprints on the office doors, which had been kicked in.

"To get to the back of my shop you have to scale buildings," he said.

"The forensic woman said this seems to be very common at the moment.

"They used a stepladder of ours to get back out. It was propped up against the railings."

Mr Bourne was surprised that the burglars had not taken expensive items which were left in the shop, including an iPad and a laptop.

He said Barbertown Tything has not experienced anything like this before, although he has had vandalism issues at his shop in Malvern.

He set up Barbertown eight years ago and has owned his shop in The Tything for five years.

Mr Bourne also owns a barber shop in St John's, Worcester.

Barbertown Tything is open for business as usual and anyone with information about the burglary can ring 101 quoting incident number 131s of April 21.