12:15pm Wednesday 23rd January 2008
By Paul Keaveny
POLICE are examining new leads in the hunt for two burglars caught on camera as they crept through a pub before stealing a cast iron safe containing £4,500.
The thieves were captured on CCTV in the Cheetham Arms pub in Blackburn Road, Astley Bridge.
Officers released pictures of the incident to The Bolton News earlier this month in the hope a reader might recognise the two men, who are still at large, nearly six months after the burglary.
PC Graham Neil, of Bolton Police, said: "Since the appeal we have received some new information about a possible suspect which has come to us via a tip on the Crimestoppers line.
"This will now be followed up but I would still appeal to anybody with information about this burglary, or to anybody who thinks they recognise the people in these pictures, to get in touch."
The men got into the pub through an unsecured cellar door, before making their way through the bar and into an upstairs office where they stole the free-standing safe. They then slid it down the stairs on a bed sheet.
The burglary happened as landlord and landlady Mark and Helen Sefton, were asleep in the far end of the building overnight on Sunday, July 15, 2007.
The couple, who had only moved into the pub three weeks earlier, were sleeping in a room normally used for bed and breakfast guests while their living quarters were redecorated. The first thing they knew about the break-in was the following morning when they noticed the internal cellar was open and that keys had been left scattered on the floor near the upstairs office.
Mr Sefton, aged 42, said he and his wife were annoyed with themselves because they had left the outside cellar door unlocked.
In the photographs, one of the offenders is wearing a white top and hat while the second offender is wearing a white top and dark trousers.
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 5761 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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