£10,000 reward for Co-op gang (From Tewkesbury Admag)

£10,000 reward for Co-op gang

A £10,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to the arrest of armed robbers who took staff hostage at the Co-op supermarket in Chipping Norton last week.

The reward is being put up by the Midcounties Co-operative, whose chief executive Bob Burlton said: "This was a terrifying ordeal for our staff and it's important that the robbers are caught and successfully convicted to help prevent this happening again to other shop workers."

Police were alerted to the robbery at 6.50am by staff at the Co-op supermarket in the High Street.

Shortly before 5am on Monday, January 23, the duty store manager and a number of cleaners were taken hostage when four armed raiders, all wearing balaclavas and one wielding a sawn-off shotgun, surprised them.

They were bundled into a staff room where their hands were taped. Over the next 90 minutes a total of 12 people, three men and nine women, comprising cleaners, shop workers and delivery drivers, were taken hostage in a similar way.

At around 6.30am, a 46-year-old woman, who had the keys to the cash office and safe, was forced to open the safe and the men made off with an undisclosed amount of cash, believed to be thousands of pounds.

It is believed the 13th and final hostage was left unrestrained and freed her colleagues before alerting police.

Det Insp Phil Murphy, of Banbury CID, said: "We are renewing our appeals to anyone who saw two motorbikes, each carrying two people, possibly with rucksacks.

"These motorbikes could well have been travelling together and have been anywhere in the surrounding area and I would ask people to think if they saw anything that could be significant.

Anyone with information can contact Banbury CID on 0845 8 505 505. Witnesses can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.