A STRING of burglaries have hit shops in Worcester High Street causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Debenhams, Boots, Office and Clintons were all burgled over the weekend.

Suzanne Revill, who has managed the Office store for seven years, said the burglary would cost them thousands.

Burglars ripped both of the store's fire and security alarms off the shop wall during the burglary.

Ms Revill said: "I've worked on Worcester High Street for 12 years and I've never known anything like this to happen.

"We have an adjoining door to Boots. It felt like it was someone who knew the buildings as well."

She added a window was broken during the burglary which she thinks the burglars accessed via the roof.

"The roof is about four foot away from the window and so they would have had a foot on the roof and one on the windowsill," she said.

She said the store had lost half a day's trade and that the broken old bay window would have to be replaced.

She added nothing had been stolen.

The manager of Clinton Cards confirmed a window at the back of the shop had been broken.

He added that nothing had been taken and they only noticed the break-in yesterday when the CrownGate security team notified them.

Sources have claimed the Debenhams store incurred £5,000 worth of damage as a result of a rooftop break-in, although the manager has denied the amount.

A Debenhams spokesman confirmed the store was burgled.

A Boots spokesman confirmed that there was an attempted break-in at their store and that a sensor was triggered but said no damage had been done.

The spokesman said: "We are aware of an attempted break in which took place on Saturday at our Boots Worcester store.  

"At Boots UK we have a zero tolerance approach to crime in our stores. We invest significantly in crime prevention and actively work with the police and local authorities to report these types of offences.

"We are committed to continually improving security measures for the protection of our customers, colleagues and property.”

Another burglary was reported in The Shambles yesterday (September 19), with thieves stealing cash from a shop charity box and attempting to break the safe.