A SHOP owner has told of his anger after thieves stole a safe containing almost £4,000 cash in a smash and grab raid.

Raiders targeted Sunseed in South Street, Wellington, on Saturday and ripped up the safe bolted to the floor before stealing takings from the Christmas period.

Owner Tony Bourne said: “I feel angry how they target hard-working people.

“People work hard for the things they’ve got, and others come along and ruin it.”

Mr Bourne has run the wholefoods and natural beauty store for 25 years, and says he has been targeted once in the past.

Several jewellers in the town have been raided in the past year – in Decem-ber, jewellery worth £6,000 was snatched from Wim’s Jewellery By Design in Fore Street, while GJ Jam-ieson in Lancer Court was raided three times in a year.

Mr Bourne said: “We came in, and saw they’d smashed through the back door and the safe was ripped from the floor.

“They took money made over Christmas. I didn’t have a chance to put the money in the bank over Christmas because they were closed. “The insurance only covers small amounts, so it’s having to come out of my own pocket – it’s annoying and difficult to deal with. “I can understand why thieves would target a jeweller, but I must be near the bottom of the pecking order.” Sgt Helen Boyd, of Welling-ton police, said: “Enquiries are ongoing and we’re looking at CCTV to try to identify the offenders.”