£50,000 Sidley warehouse raid

The haul from the Ex-Catalogue Warehouse in Ninfield Road included 40 Dyson vacuum cleaners.

Cordless telephones, DVD players, video players were also snatched.

The owners of the business complained that police were slow responding to the incident. Police responded that security arrangements - now stepped up - were inadequate.

Joint owner Emma Diner, 30, called the police at 8.30am when she found the store ransacked but said police did not attend the scene until lunchtime.

She and partner Simon Brown, 41, were left to count the cost. Both Emma and Simon felt disappointed by the police response. "It seems like they are not interested at all." said Emma.

A CCTV camera across the road from the shop was pointing in the opposite direction and the tape from the store camera was damaged during the break-in.

Emma and Simon are hoping somebody witnessed the raid, shown by security monitors to have lasted from 3.15am-6.40am. The alarm was first activated at 1.10am but the link from the alarm call centre to the keyholders had been lost due to the number of previous false alarms.

Sector Commander Inspector Max Mosley said security had been stepped up since the break-in with new alarms, additional CCTV and security patrols.

"The police share the frustration of the Ex-Catalogue Store that they were not in a position to respond promptly to the report of the burglary." said Inspector Mosley.

Rother CID seek information on the January 27 at Bexhill Police Station on 0845 60 70 999.