A COMMUNITY has been left ‘in shock’ after thieves broke in to a Lyme Regis cinema and trashed a neighbouring shop.

The Regent Cinema in Broad Street was raided during the night and a safe containing cash was stolen.

The thieves carved away at the front door to release the lock before forcing open the office door and using a parking blockade to lever the safe.

They then smashed their way in to neighbouring Neat clothing store through an inter-connecting door and made off with hand-selected costume jewellery which staff had gone to painstaking efforts to collect.

Shop manager Anna Hoole, who was first on the scene on Friday morning, said: “I was gutted when I saw the mess. We had been getting ready for Christmas and it had taken us months to select the pieces.

“We were making the store look wonderful, but the thieves absolutely trashed the place. To buy the stolen pieces we had to travel to London and personally select them. It will take us months to replace what was taken.

“They had obviously intended to break in to the cinema and we were an added bonus, the icing on the cake. The whole community has been left in shock.”

As well as making off with the goods, the thieves damaged two empty safes and broke a till which has been rendered useless.

PC Rich-ard Win-ward said: “This attack was almost certainly planned.

“The thieves had to carve away at the wooden front door to release the lock.

“After they had raided the cinema they broke in to the shop via the inter-connecting door.

“They must have used a vehicle to take the goods away so we are appealing to anyone who might have seen a van parked nearby that night.

“People need to take this as a warning with regards to how they store their valuables because unfortunately sometimes these criminals are about. This is an ongoing investigation.”

Anna said: “It’s shocking because the shop and the cinema are overlooked, it’s not like this is an isolated area.£ “In this economic climate you really have to work hard. We try to keep a positive attitude and keep going, but for us this has been a very upsetting time.”

No-one from the cinema was available for comment.

Witnesses and anyone with information about the incident are asked to call Dorset Police on 101.