Traumatised licensee criticises police

A traumatised licensee who was attacked by balaclava-clad thieves has criticised police for failing to warn her gangs were targeting pubs.

Around 50, mainly rural, pubs have been raided in the last three months in Lincolnshire by gangs of thieves.

However, Tabitha Irvine, licensee of the Plough Inn, in Holbeach St Johns, is furious the police did not alert pubs earlier.

She was left with cuts after being attacked with a screwdriver by the robbers. They escaped with what Tabitha described as "all our hard-earned money".

She added: "I'm just so angry that we were not given some sort of warning. To be assaulted in your own home is terrifying.

"We thought it was just a random thing, but then found out that 12 other pubs in our area have been raided."

Three pubs were broken into on the same night as the Plough Inn.

One was the Royal Mail Cart, in Spalding, where a gang broke through seven dead locks on the main cellar door and a second cellar door to get in.

Licensee Dick Stoker said: "It was clearly professionals and not just kids."

The tills were empty of cash, but the thieves searched the fruit machines for money and raided the upstairs of the pub, escaping with a laptop.

The gang also threw a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, belonging to friends of the licensee, into the pub's bowling green to shut it up.

A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police said pubs "get burgled all the time" and it was the spike of four raids in one night that had prompted the warning. "It's unfortunate timing, but it happened at the cusp of a crime wave," he said.

He also warned pubs to be extra vigilant and tighten up their security.