Oswestry bistro is raided three times in three weeks

A cafe owner was today counting the costs after her business in Oswestry was targeted by burglars three times in three weeks.

Sarah Williams says the break-ins and the subsequent repair costs have practically wiped out any profit her fledging Cobbles Bistro Bar business, which was started thanks to a Prince's Trust grant, has made in the past months.

And the businesswoman, who runs the cafe at Castle Court off Bailey Street with co-owner Emma Davies, has appealed to residents who live nearby to call the police straight away if the burglar alarm goes off.

The business was first targeted overnight on January 16 when it was burgled and the till was taken.

Nineteen-year-old James Wilkinson admitted that burglary, as well as a burglary at a Oswestry house and a charge of aggravated vehicle taking, when he appeared at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court on Thursday.

The teenager, from Torpoint, Cornwall, was given a total of 38 weeks in a young offenders' institution for the offences.

Cobbles Bistro Bar was targeted again overnight on January 27 when the takings were stolen, Miss Williams said.

And overnight on Tuesday an attempt was made to break in when somebody damaged locks, she said.

Miss Williams said she was determined to carry on with the cafe but asked for the public's help in protecting the business.

She said: "The police have been brilliant and they are helping us improve our security and have stepped up their patrols.

"What is disappointing is that the alarms go off and nobody who lives around there calls the police.

"We would ask them to let the police know. Both me and Emma are determined women and it is business as usual but each time this happens the business is damaged.

"People might think we are busy and successful but we needed a Prince's Trust grant to get going and are working on a shoestring budget.

"I don't know what I am going to be walking into from one day to the next."