Trader targeted for the third time

Thieves smashed the front window of Bone, a clothes shop near the top of School Hill, with a brick just after midnight on Saturday.

Proprietor Paul Bone told the Express: 'They didn't get into the shop but they gave the window a good go with a brick.

'Fortunately it's safety glass and I think they were put off by the alarm.

'In December last year thieves broke in through a back window and I think the alarm scared them away, but the following week they came through the front door and stole 7,000 of stock.

'On Saturday I felt sick when they told me it'd happened again.

'I was fast asleep in bed when I received a call to say the alarms were going off and ten minutes later I was told police officers were outside the shop.'

Mr Bone plans to fit an internal security grill to the window, costing 2,500, and said the damage from the break-ins was likely to send his insurance premium soaring.

He had no complaints about police response but he called for more CCTV cameras in the town centre.

David Quinn, president of Lewes Chamber of Commerce, agreed more cameras would help police and traders.

He said: 'We need better CCTV coverage because there are some areas of the town which are not properly covered.

'We haven't had big problems with break-ins in this area but there's always the worry

and I think more cameras would mean a bit more piece of mind for shopkeepers and would make it easier for the police do their jobs.'