Robbers hit accountancy firm TWICE in one night

A substantial amount of money was said to have been stolen along with the dispenser itself which was only installed at CJ Roberts and Partners in Tyldesley town centre last summer in response to a lack of local ATMs.

Police had been called to the Elliott Street premises at 1am on Monday morning after an alarm was activated by burglars trying to break into the machine.

A spokesman said officers discovered they had climbed up onto a single-storey extension roof and broken an upper window to get in. They checked the premises’ interior and found that while the ATM had been tampered with - an attempt having been made to prise the back off - it was still intact and dispensing money.

Because access had been through an upper window it was difficult for the officers to secure the building. The keyholders did not turn up and then the officers were called on another job.

Later the same morning it was discovered that there had been a second break-in and this time the ATM had been uprooted and removed complete with its contents.

Police are appealing for witnesses to either burglary. There has been no mention of a vehicle being used.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The closure of Lloyds bank in Tyldesley last year prompted CJ Roberts and Partners to install its own free-standing ATM inside the premises as otherwise there would have only been one left in the town centre.

The Wigan Post rang the firm yesterday for a comment, but a spokesman declined, saying it was a police matter.

In a separate incident, one man was arrested and another is being hunted after an attempted break-in at a Leigh hole-in-the-wall.

Police received reports in the early hours of Tuesday that two men were attacking an ATM outside the Best One convenience store on Holden Road with a hammer and crowbar.

Each time a vehicle approached the pair retreated to a white van parked nearby until it had passed before resuming their attempts to get into the cash dispenser.

The crime was reported at 3.40am and soon afterwards police arrived and the men fled.

A 25-year-old man was later arrested on suspicion of theft.

Officers have issued a description of a man they would like to question who was wearing grey joggers, grey trainers and a black hoodie, possibly of North Face design.