Prayers for store shooting victim

Prayers were said for the Hodson-Walker family at the church service

Prayers have been said at a service to remember a sub-postmaster's son who was shot dead by armed robbers on Friday.

Craig Hodson-Walker, 29, was shot in the chest and his father, Ken, 56, was shot in the leg in a raid at the post office in Fairfield, Worcestershire.

His family joined 100 villagers at the service in St Mark's Church.

Prayers were led by the Archdeacon of Dudley, the Venerable Fred Trethewey, who said the community was shocked and seeking to deal with what had happened.

Addressing the congregation, he said: "No one who has known Craig and his family can be untouched by what has happened and gatherings like this are one of the ways in which the community draws strength and offers mutual support."

He said the community was seeking to "grapple with the enormity of what has happened in this village".

Getaway car

More than 100 officers are involved in the investigation and the area around Fairfield General Stores on Stourbridge Road is being searched for evidence.

Det Jon Groves said there had been a good public response to the investigation which he said had turned up "a number of very useful pieces of information."

Craig's fiancee said her future was destroyed by the robbers who shot him

Police believe three men went into the shop on Friday armed with a handgun and sledgehammer, while a fourth drove the getaway car - a silver Volkswagen Golf, later found abandoned nearby in Bournheath Road.

Officers are studying CCTV footage of the area and said they were particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have seen a white car driving at speed in Bournheath Road between 0815 and 0830 GMT on Friday at the time of the shooting.

Police said one of the robbers was about 6ft tall, white, and was wearing a dark hooded top and tracksuit bottoms. The other two were shorter and also wearing dark clothing.

They all had balaclavas or scarves covering their faces. The driver was a white man with a hooded top and a scarf which was pulled up over his face.

'Future destroyed'

Craig's fiancee Lisa Bundy has appealed for people to come forward with information.

In a statement issued through West Mercia Police, Miss Bundy said: "I can't even start to describe the pain - it feels like someone has ripped out my insides. It just seems like a bad dream.

"Now I have had my future destroyed. Craig deserves for them to get caught because he didn't deserve to die like that."

A post-mortem examination on the body of Craig Hodson-Walker confirmed he died from a gun shot wound to the chest.

A number of robberies have occurred in the Bromsgrove area over the past several months, police said.

Detectives are looking for possible links to three or four other robberies.

The Post Office has offered a £50,000 reward for the gang's capture.