Robbers tunnel into wrong place

BURGLARS TUNNELLED 10 feet towards a bank vault, only to surface in an estate agent's office next door. After their six-hour excavation last weekend, the intruders fled without a penny.

The raiders went equipped with pickaxes and spades inhopes of reaching a small vault behind the NatWest cash dispenser at Heaton Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester, which contained an estimated pounds 10,000 in cash. They chose Saturday night or early Sunday morning for the break-in, after staff at the estate agency had left for the weekend.

A night's work in the cellar took them through five sets of walls, brickwork and concrete, but when they emerged through the floor of what they thought was the bank, they found themselves instead in the neighbouring premises of Phillip James estate agent.

Detective Chief Inspector Kenny Caldwell, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "The raid is a bit like a prisoner trying to tunnel his way out of a jail, only to find that he surfaces in the exercise yard. Their route must have gone amiss and they ended up on the wrong side of the wall."

But he added: "Even if they had got their route right it would have been a waste of time. Sensors would have raised the alarm as soon as someone entered the cash machine room - whether through the door, the wall or through the floor."

The robbery attempt was discovered when staff at the estate agency arrived for work on Tuesday. Diane Timsley, thebranch manager, said: "I came in for work and there was this hole in the wall. It was ... just large enough for someone to squeeze through."

Police issued an appeal for information yesterday and urged anyone who may have heard "something unusual - such as a lot of knocking" to contact them.