A professional heist crew left a family run Liverpool business rocked to its core after emptying a warehouse of around 42,000 skincare products worth in excess of £250,000.
Crystal Clear Skincare, based in Rodney Street in the city centre, has been supplying salons and hairdressers with products for around 26 years. Director Sharon Hillditch said while the business is insured, she is facing around three months of delays before she can fulfill orders, leaving her company at risk of losing hard-won clients.
She told the ECHO: "I'm just angry. We're a Liverpool company, we got through Brexit, we got through the covid pandemic, and some b***ers have come along and taken £250,000 worth of skincare products from our warehouse in Bootle.
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"I don't know what they could do with them, I would even pay to get them back as bad as that sounds. Our suppliers are very understanding but I don't know what we're going to do."
The brazen raid is believed to have taken place at some point on Monday night. Sharon told the ECHO the thieves jammed open the shutters and ripped an alarm system electrical box off the wall, cutting a specific wire that prevented the alarm, which would automatically have alerted police, from triggering.
Sharon said: "They clearly knew exactly what they were doing, it makes me sick."
While CCTV is in the process of being recovered, the burglars managed to make off with full pallets of stock, suggesting use of a van or lorry. Merseyside Police said an investigation is underway and appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
A spokesman said: "We received a report at around 9.40am on Tuesday, February 14, that the premises on Bankhall Lane had been broken into at some point between 5pm the previous night and 9.30am the following morning. A number of pallets containing skin care products were stolen.
"If you were driving in the area at any point between these times and have dashcam footage, or live in the area and have smart doorbell footage, please check in case you captured anything suspicious.
"Anyone with any more information can contact us via @MerPolCC on Twitter or Merseyside Police Contact Centre on Facebook, with reference 23000131068.
"You can also pass information anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or contact them via their online form here."
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