THE owner of a Wem phone and vape shop says thieves who kicked the door in have robbed him of his stock and his family’s safe space.

Jamie Farnell owns and runs Shropshire Phone Repairs Ltd, in High Street, which was burgled in the early hours of October 24.

He admitted he was devasted by the break-in, for both personal and professional reasons, as it will impact him in many ways.

READ MORE: Wem public toilet closed after bowls stuffed with litter

“It’s a family-run business,” he said.

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“My partner and I, and our four children rely on this business for our lives.

“But also, it’s my kids’ safe space for when they come home from work and we’ve had to keep it away from our daughter who would panic that our house is in danger.

The aftermath of the burglary at Shropshire Phone Repairs in Wem High Street. The aftermath of the burglary at Shropshire Phone Repairs in Wem High Street. (Image: Jamie Farnell.)

“It’s a self-made business – I’ve never taken a loan and we’ve built this from nothing and then these come through and think they can take it all for nothing.”

Jamie explained how he was alerted to the incident and said the overall damage to his business could run into the thousands.

“I have got ADT Security for the shop and the alarm went off as they broke in,” he said.

“I was in bed and the security firm rang me to ask if I had been broken into as the alarm had gone off.

“I checked the cameras and could see the mess everywhere and I said yes I had but they said that because only one camera went off they couldn’t call the police.

“So I had to but they had already been called by a witness.

“It seems they had kicked in the door – there was glass everywhere in the shop and the street and it looked awful.

“They helped themselves to all of my vape and phone stock and it has seriously depleted what I had.

“The annoying thing is that it's seriously affected me as I’ve had to close today – and therefore not trade – as we’ve had to clean it up and we’ve had forensics from police there too.

“I’ve also spent time with police trying to gather CCTV evidence from nearby houses.”

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West Mercia Police said an investigation is now underway.

A spokesman said: "We received a call around 3:30am this morning (24 October) with a report of a burglary at a retail premise in High Street in Wem.

"Officers arrived and the suspect/s had left the area. An investigation is now ongoing."