Appeal for information over distraction burglary in Tamworth

Officers are appealing for help identifying two men who were involved in a distraction burglary at a home in Tamworth.

At about 6.30pm on Thursday (1 April), two men approached a property in the Masefield Drive area of Tamworth. They are both described as white, with one wearing a blue baseball cap.

They knocked on the door and told the elderly victim they needed to assess the home’s water pipes to check for a leak. The victim refused to allow them entry, but as she talked to one of the men through a front window, the second man went around to the rear, accessed the garden, and got into the property through the open kitchen door.

He made an untidy search of the bedroom and took a safe contained within it before making his escape. Inside was a large amount of cash and a glass jar containing rough opal stones.

A quantity of that cash was made up of the old-style paper £20 notes as opposed to the new polymer £20 notes that came into use in February last year. These old paper notes carried the face of Scottish economist Adam Smith on one side and The Queen on the other.

If anyone saw or heard anything suspicious in the Masefield Drive area at the time of the incident, has CCTV that covers the property, or who may be offered old paper-style notes or rough opal stones for sale is urged to message Staffordshire Police on Facebook or Twitter quoting incident number 760 of 1 April, or alternatively contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.