Thieves target home post office

Kathleen Hewitt plans to move the Post Office operation from her home

A postmistress wants to move the village post office out of her own home after thieves repeatedly targeted the property in Leicestershire.

Kathleen Hewitt has run the post office from her house in the Leicestershire village of Scalford for three years.

She wants to keep it going, but says the burglaries, which happened last year, have affected her family.

Ms Hewitt said she was also concerned at the number of raids on other sub-post offices.

Change location

She took down the Post Office sign after two burglaries and two attempted burglaries at the house last year.

Nobody was hurt but the thefts have still shaken them.

Ms Hewitt said: "My family have now been affected quite badly, my daughter particularly.

"But obviously you can't stop working because there's a risk with every job.

"We're as vulnerable as any other small business who carry cash basically. Unfortunately we seem to be targeted at the moment - it's our turn.

"The Post Office seem to be doing everything they possibly can, but at the end of the day we have to look at the crime rates and just how much we can do to prevent these things happening in our rural environments."

Ms Hewitt, who also runs the village shop from from the premises as well as a child-minding business, said she planned to change the location of the post office operation by Easter.

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Kathleen Hewitt has run the post office in Scalford for three years