Owner of Family Shopper store in Market Deeping speaks of shock as Lincolnshire Police investigate ram raid

A shop owner has spoken of his devastation after ram raiders attacked his store.

Jegatheeswaran Rajaratnam, known as Jega, was called in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday, March 27) to say the Family Shopper store in High Street, Market Deeping, had been attacked.

He arrived at about 2.30am to find a JCB had torn apart the front of the store he has owned and run for two years, with thieves managing to break into the cash machine and take the money from inside.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Jega told LincsOnline. “I just felt so shocked – who would do this to my shop?”

Police cordoned off the scene until the JCB was recovered in the early hours of this morning, when the road was reopened. Investigations are underway.

Jega has not been given access inside the store yet so doesn’t know if anything else was taken.

“When I got the phone call, I came straight away. It was awful to see it. I felt so bad.

“The fridges are all damaged. It’s horrible,” Jega said.

“We want to reopen though for the community.”

Jega is waiting for insurance assessors to visit.

A police spokesperson said a call came in at 2.13am and three men believed to be wearing masks “loaded the cash machine onto a transit van and left the area”.

Witnesses are asked to contact DI Gemma Skipworth by emailing: Gemma.Skipworth@lincs.police.uk or NSKCID@lincs.police.uk, quoting incident 29 of today’s date.