Sports club cash machine stolen

A cash machine was stolen from a bowling complex in Sussex in the early hours of the morning.

Sussex Police said the ATM was taken from the David Lloyd Bowling Centre in Broadwater Way, Eastbourne, at about 0200 BST on Friday.

They think a blue Ford Fiesta set alight in a car park in Framfield Way in Eastbourne on Friday night may have been used at some point in the theft.

Seven ATMs in Kent and now three in Sussex have been stolen since December.

Fire witnesses

Police said the cash machine was stolen from the bowling centre's entrance hall and that at least two people would have been needed to move it, possibly using a van or a 4x4 vehicle.

It is not known how much money was in it.

The Ford Fiesta, registration number M37 ONF, was set alight at about 2145 BST and detectives said they wanted to trace a couple in their early 20s who reported the fire to local residents and may have seen the offenders run away.

They said they were in a dark-coloured Audi and that the man had short blond hair and possibly a South African accent.

In some of the recent previous raids in the South East thieves have used heavy machinery such as mechanical diggers to steal the cash machines from shops or banks during the night.

Sussex Police said they were liaising with officers in Kent and sharing information but they did not think the Eastbourne incident was connected to the Kent offences.