Watch as thief breaks into Northampton beauty salon and steals £3,500 in cash inside six minutes

A Northampton beauty salon owner has been left 'devastated' after a thief broke in and stole £3,500 from the shop's till.

Zone Beauty Studio in Wellingborough Road was burgled at around 6.30am on Sunday (November 28) by a lone crook who took just six minutes to get away with the cash.

The shop's owner Zara Atif says she is devastated.

The 37-year-old said: "It's absolutely devastating. We work so hard, now we have to find that money our own pockets to pay the bills.

"We are already struggling. It's a huge financial impact.

"I think people like this don't have any morals or heart. I think what they have done should be condemned in the strongest possible way. Police should increase patrols in the area, too.

"You see the CCTV footage and your heart wrenches. It's very sad, to be honest. How can someone come and violate us like this?"

Zara explained how the burglar managed to break into the property. She said: "We have a key holder called key safe. You put a key in it, close it and open it with a code. Many people have them. It was at the rear of the property.

"We thought this was very safe and never thought this sort of thing would happen. It's a heavy duty lock.but the man came and knocked the key safe off the wall, smashed it open and took the key.

"He went in and went straight to the till. There was about four or five days of earnings in there including staff tips. He took all of that and walked straight out. It all happened inside six minutes. He was so calm.

"We arrived a few hours later at 9.30am because we were going to a family wedding. A couple of colleagues went in to clean the shop floor after we had a party there the night before.

"They saw the lock had been smashed, the door was open, and everything was on the floor. Nothing else had been touched — computer nor phones — just the money.

"He had probably been keeping an eye on us for a long time.

"People will say, 'why did you leave the till in the property. We thought it was safe, so we just left it in there. Hindsight is a great thing. We were going to take the money to the bank on Monday morning."

Zara's insurance policy does not cover her for this incident and she is not confident of ever seeing the money again. But she has learnt one lesson she wants to pass on.

She said: "We are not going to put keys in key safes any more.

"Lots of older people and vulnerable people use these key safes; you can just hit them off and get them open. I would warn people about them.

"At the end of the day, nothing can be done about it now. We're not confident of seeing the money again but we are positive we will get the money back back through trade."

A Northamptonshire Police spokeswoman said: "This happened in Wellingborough Road at about 6.35am on November 28 when an unknown male broke into a beauty studio.

"Money was stolen. Anyone with any information should contact us."