Essex ram raids could be linked

Watch Emily Knight's report above.

Police investigating a second ram raid in Essex in less than two weeks have not ruled out the possibility that the thefts could be linked.

The raiders - who were wearing balaclavas - used a forklift truck to put a hole in a building at the junction of High Street and Brook Street in Manningtree at around 2.10am today (Friday).

A Natwest cash machine was then ripped from the wall.

Soon after the raid, police chased three vehicles - a Toyota pick-up truck, blue Audi and black Ford Fiesta - through the Essex town. Officers believe they were driven by the suspects.

All four vehicles have since been found. The Audi had been abandoned at Wyncolls Road in Colchester and set alight, while the forklift truck was found in Lawford, to the south-west of Manningtree.

The ATM had been dumped close to the Toyota.

Witnesses have given police descriptions of two suspects but officers said, because of the number of vehicles involved, there were through to be more.

Lauren Meadows, who lives nearby, said she had heard what she thought was a car alarm in the early hours of the morning.

Today's raid comes just 11 days after a similar incident at Swan Street in Sible Hedingham, when thieves drove a JCB into the front of the Co-op store.

A spokesman added that the raid was not being linked to another in Manningtree three months ago. Thieves targeted a Tesco store on High Street in the early hours of February 8 to try to get to a cigarette cabinet.

Following today's theft, a Porsche belonging to Liesel Park was wrecked as the raiders tried to get away.

She said the cash machine had fallen off the forklift truck as they drove down the road.