Appeal: robbery and aggravated burglary, Grantham

We are appealing for witnesses to three separate incidents in the Grantham area.

They all happened within an hour and a half of each other on Thursday, 19 December, and we need your help to identify who was responsible.

In the first incident, officers on patrol were flagged down and given a report that a boy in his mid-teens had been threatened with a knife by a man, and had his bag and phone stolen in Eton Street, Grantham, just after 4.20pm.

The man was described as white, bald, between mid-20s and 30-years-old, around 6ft tall, and was wearing a black tracksuit. He was with two other people, and all left in the direction of McDonalds. This was incident 327 of 19 December.

A second report was of an aggravated burglary in Christchurch Road just after 5.35pm, where three men are reported to have smashed a glass pane in the door and put a hand through open the door. They were challenged by the resident and left. This was incident 358 of 19 December.

The third incident was another report of aggravated burglary in Melbourne Road, where three men with weapons are reported to have broken into a property when the residents were home, before ransacking the house and stealing food. This is reported to have happened just before 5.40pm.

We are keeping an open mind about who might be responsible for all three incidents, but we are considering whether they are linked.

These are all really concerning incidents for us, and will have been incredibly frightening for all the victims involved. Officers have been dedicated to investigating these reports and we now need your help.

These incidents all took place at a busy time of day and we believe there will have been people on the streets or in vehicles who will have seen or heard something that might be able to help our investigation. Please get in touch if we have not already spoken with you. No matter how small you think the information you have is, it could prove significant in our investigations. We are also asking you to check CCTV and dashcam footage for that area between 4.15pm and 5.45pm.

We understand that people might be fearful of making a report. You can give information completely anonymously via the charity Crimestoppers – we will never know it was you who provided the information.

If you can help, there are a number of ways to get in touch:

• Email [email protected] quoting the relevant incident number;
• Call 101 and ask to speak with the duty DS for North and South Kesteven, quoting the relevant incident number;

Or contract Crimestoppers anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at https://crimestoppers-uk.org/