Cash machine torn from town's high street

A cash machine has been torn from a funeral directors' building on an Essex high street, causing significant damage.

It happened in Halstead at about 01:50 BST, said police.

At the scene, officers found one vehicle that had been used in the incident that was still running.

No arrests have been made, but the force said officers had spoken to several witnesses and urged anyone with information to come forward.

The road had closed but has since reopened.

Craig Collier, chief operating officer at Daniel Robinson & Sons, said he received a call in the early hours of the morning from the firm's out of hours service.

"I arrived here early hours of this morning, little before 08:00 to see all of the debris on the road," he said.

"The funeral home wasn't damaged - this was a building that was connected but entirely separate, it was there really just to support the cash machine.

"It's very difficult to put yourself in the minds of them [the thieves] but it's not hard to see that it is a funeral home. It would have been fairly clear to them what they are doing.

"We just want to reassure everybody we're still here to look after the community - we've already done that with all the families we are calling for."

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