FOUR men have appeared in court accused of stealing around £6,000 from a post office at the weekend.

Lancashire Police were called at around 4.50pm on Saturday, May 7, to a report that four men had stolen around £6,000 from the staff store room of the Post Office in Walton-le-Dale, before making off from the area in an Audi S3.

At around 5.20pm the same day, the police's TacOps team sighted the Audi and were able to carry out a stop on the A59 in Burscough, 20 miles south.

Four men, three from Liverpool, were arrested at the scene on suspicion of burglary, and have since been charged over the offence

Lee Browne, 34, of Brodie Avenue, Liverpool; Haneef Chowdhury, 24, of Woolton Road, Liverpool; Peter Neary, 38, of Barnsbury Road, Liverpool; and Warren Benjamin, 23, of no fixed abode, were all charged with burglary.

The four appeared at Preston Magistrates’ Court yesterday (May 9) over the alleged incident, where they were sent for a plea and trial preparation hearing in crown court on June 7.

Peter Neary has been remanded in custody. The other three defendants have been given conditional bail.