Blackburn salon owner 'scared raiders will return’ (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Blackburn salon owner 'scared raiders will return’

3:30pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in News By Sam Chadderton, Reporter

WORRIED Suzanne Fish at her Room 4 shop

A SALON owner who has been burgled three times recently says more needs to be done to protect businesses from crime.

Suzanne Fish’s Room 4 hairdressers in Strawberry Bank, Blackburn, was broken into in the early hours of Friday morning.

She was one of 13 victims of an axe-wielding raider who repeatedly struck over 25 days in the run-up to Christmas 2010.

Nobody was ever charged with that crime spree and now Miss Fish said she is ‘scared’ criminals could be watching the salon late at night when staff are working late shifts.

She said: “The salon shut at 10pm on Thursday. It must have taken a lot of effort to smash a hole through the toughened glass.

"It makes me think whoever was responsible could have been watching and waiting for people to leave. I’m really scared.

She said: “Everything that the police said we should do after the burglaries last year, we have done. Yet we’ve suffered another burglary.

“We are in a recession and there is only so much we can spend on security. This is not helping.

“When we’ve asked about CCTV, the police have said they don’t have the funding. But neither do we.

“How many more times is this going to happen before something is done. The attitude seems to be that we should be more vigilant.

“But I’ve got 16 years experience and have run the salon for eight years. We don’t have cash left on the premises and have installed an alarm. It is so frustrating and we don’t know who to turn to for help.”

A tool was used to force open drawers as the burglar searched for items. Nothing was taken. Forensic teams are examining evidence.

Sgt Sue Bushell said the incident is under investigation and is being treated as a isolated crime.

She said: “There was a spike in December 2010 in Strawberry Bank and then a recent spike in burglaries in nearby Whalley Range. We are responding to this.”

Sgt Bushell encouraged Miss Fish to attend Thursday’s meeting of the Whalley Range Business Forum which is open to residents, businesses, councillors and police in the area to discuss ways of working together to cut crime.