A RAIDER stole electronic tablets, a stereo and stock in a burglary at a York chip shop.

Owners of the Sea Catcher in Clarence Street said the shop was broken into between 4.30am and 5.20am on Easter Monday.

Manager Sean Burns said the break-in was discovered on Easter Monday afternoon, after the cafe had been shut for two days, with electrical items stolen and bins emptied all over the floor.

He said: “When we looked at CCTV we saw the guy break in through the window with a crowbar, and was in here for over an hour.

“He got away with two tablets and a stereo. We don’t leave cash on the premises, so no cash was stolen, but they are worth about £300.”

Sean said staff at the cafe had to “secure the window, rebuild the lock and clean everything up”, which took “about three hours, he’d ripped every drawer out”.

Sean added that the CCTV images were clear enough to show the suspect’s confidence increase throughout the break-in.

But he said the stolen items - a Technics stereo, and Asus and Lenovo tablets - would probably not be easy to sell.

He said: “The stereo is 20 years old, so he’s not going to get much for it, and the Uber Eats tablet is locked by them.

“He was so brazen later on, he was standing up walking around, but at the start he was crawling around. He went into the tills and pulled things off shelves, took stock as well.”

Using the shop’s social media accounts, some images of a suspect’s face were shared on Monday, in the hope that someone would recognise him and pass information to police.

Sean said: “We wanted to get his face out there really and use social media as a good thing, get people to realise as early as possible that if someone tries to sell them tablets or an old stereo, to try and report it to police.”

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Police said on Tuesday that the burglary was reported to them on Monday afternoon, and “bins had also been emptied over the premises”.

She said: “Inquiries are ongoing.

“Anyone who saw anything or who has any information which would assist the investigation in asked to contact police on 101, select option one and pass the information to the Force Control Room.”

The force also wants to hear from anyone who has been offered similar items for sale, and said information could be passed anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 quoting reference 12190072625.