Thieves use telehandler to smash into shop and steal a cash machine before setting it alight and causing an explosion
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A construction vehicle was set ablaze in the middle of a village high street by thieves who had used it to steal a cash point from an adjacent convenience store.
Thieves used the telehandler to rip out the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) from the Co-op store shortly before 3am on Wednesday.
They then set the vehicle – a lifting machine equipped with a telescopic boom which allows it to function as a forklift and a crane – alight and made off with the cash machine.
Villagers awoke to an explosion and inferno which melted the road surface in the High Street at Fenny Compton in Warwickshire.
Hilary Birkbeck, a furniture designer who shot this footage said the force of the explosion cracked his first floor double glazing and melted his guttering.
Mr Birkbeck, 70, said: 'It was a hell of an explosion. The police were very tight-lipped about what exactly the thieves did, but the rumour is that the explosion was caused by a gas canister which they used to blow the ATM out of its housing.'
He said of the blaze: 'It's all a bit close for comfort.'
It is the second time in seven years that the store has been targeted for its cash machine.
The burnt out construction machine pictured just yards from the severely damaged Co-op store front
The road surface began to melt as the fire took hold in Fenny Compton, Warwickshire
The same Co-op store was also hit in an early-hours raid in 2009 when a gang brought a low-loader and a pick-up truck along to help them remove the ATM
In June 2019 the store front was demolished by robbers who ram-raided the wall with a stolen digger in the early hours in order to steal the ATM.
Following the latest attack, Mr Birkbeck has emailed Co-op headquarters urging the chain not to replace the cash machine.
'We don't want the machine back if this is what's likely to happen', Mr Birkbeck said. 'I think we have suffered enough.'
His wife Jude, 64, said: 'There was petrol alight down the street. It was absolutely terrifying.
'At first I heard a scraping and crashing sound and thought it must be the binmen emptying the Co-op's bins. I tried to get back to sleep but then there was the big bang, and before long police were knocking on the door urging us to evacuate.'
Fenny Compton was the location for the first meeting of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance in 2009, the group founded by Sir Alan Bates to campaign for justice for his fellow victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.
The former subpostmaster was knighted for leading the 20-year campaign.
Less than three weeks ago, a telehandler was driven into a shop on High Street in Shipston-on-Stour under cover of darkness and an ATM removed.
That telehandler was also set alight outside the shop.
Warwickshire Police has asked anybody who could help with the investigation into the latest attack, particularly if they had CCTV or doorbell camera footage, to get in touch, citing Incident 26 of November 4.
High Street in Fenny Compton remained closed to traffic on Wednesday evening.
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