September 22, 2020 5.01 pm This story is over 42 months old

Burglar rampage in Lincoln Central Market

Blood was found at the scene

Stall holders including Debbie Swain, owner of Deb's Diner, and Mark Bruton, owner of Comic Worlds, were left in shock about the incident. Photo: The Lincolnite

Police found blood at the scene after a burglar rampaged through Lincoln Central Market overnight, which affected at least 15 businesses.

Police are investigating the incident which happened overnight on Monday and affected at least 15 business, with money stolen from some of the stalls.

The force said the burglar will be injured due to the blood found at the scene. The doors of the building were smashed to gain entry, with a section now boarded off.

Debbie Swain, owner of Deb’s Diner, told The Lincolnite that she was shaken up after coming in to find blood stains and a big mess at her cafe on Tuesday morning.

Part of the door had to be boarded up after a raid at Lincoln Central Market. Photo: The Lincolnite

She said: “There were specks of blood all over the floor and on the chiller doors. A knife was broken and there were blood stains, it was a big mess. The till was smashed up into pieces on the floor and around £15 was taken.

“We delayed trading until nearly lunchtime. It shook me up but we’ve (all the stall holders) stuck together. The security man Andy was amazing this morning as he was so concerned about everyone.”

The till at City Girl Fashion was damaged so now the drawer cannot be fully closed. Photo: The Lincolnite

Harjinder Kaur, who owns City Girl Fashion, turned up at around 8.15am on Tuesday morning to find blouses pulled down that had traces of blood on them.

Around £70 was taken from the till, which has been damaged so the drawer cannot be fully closed.

She said she was left feeling in shock as this is the first time this has happened in her 20 years at the market.

Lincoln Central Market after the blood had been cleaned up. Photo: The Lincolnite

Ajeet Singh, the owner of the Mobile Phone & Gadgets stall, said three phones with a total value of around £400 were taken and another was damaged beyond repair.

Mark Brunton from Comic Worlds said he found the till damaged as it had been chucked on the floor, but fortunately nothing was taken.

Several tills were damaged, including this one from the Alter-It stall. Photo: The Lincolnite

The till was badly damaged at the Alter-It stall and around £100 in notes was taken, along with a bag of pound coins.

The owner of The Underwear stall had to repair her locks and clean up blood when she arrived at work on Tuesday.

Anyone with information about the incident is being urged to contact police on 101 quoting incident 44 of September 22.