Reward offered in Securitas hunt

The tractor was captured on CCTV moments before the robbery

A £25,000 reward has been offered to help catch a gang who stole up to £600,000 from a Securitas van.

The gang escaped with the money after ramming the van with a tractor in Warrington, Cheshire, last week.

Detectives have released CCTV footage of the Massey-Ferguson tractor moments before the raid at Hardwick Grange industrial estate in Woolston.

The raid, on 8 March, came two weeks after £53m was stolen from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

A spokesman for Cheshire Constabulary said: "We are hopeful that a reward of up to £25,000 offered by Securitas, for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of offenders, will encourage people to come forward."

Getaway vehicle

In the Woolston raid the masked robbers used a flatbed Volvo truck to force the van to stop before ramming it with a tractor.

They forced open the windows of the van with crowbars, stole between £500,000 and £600,000 and then set the lorry alight.

The security guards escaped from the vehicle and were uninjured.

The two vehicles were stolen together from a premises in Wilberfoss, east Yorkshire on 7 March.

A Volvo V40 car, thought to have been used as a getaway vehicle, was stolen from the Tinshill area of Leeds in May 2005.

The CCTV images also show a dark-coloured MPV style vehicle and a light-coloured estate car near the scene of the robbery.

Police want to speak to the drivers of both cars, who they believe may have witnessed the robbery.