SHOCKING footage has emerged of a gang of youths raiding a Wyke shop before running off.

The shameful scenes were captured by CCTV cameras at Jack’s Local, in Wyke Lane, and show the brazen thieves flooding into the shop before mindlessly grabbing items from the fridge and shelves.

The group is eventually pushed out of the door by the shop’s owner, bringing the 20-second swoop to an end.

Jasindhan and Darshana Uruthirakumar run the shop, set in a quiet residential area, and say it is the latest in a string of incidents blighting their business.

The pair took on the shop in October 2016 and say the incidents started around one month later.

Mr Uruthirakumar said: “The first time, we were sleeping upstairs when two people broke in and stole £100 from the till.

“Then we’ve had kids coming in, two to three at a time, taking stuff.

“We’ve stopped them from coming in a group.”

He said he and his wife were concerned something more could happen.

“What if someone comes in with a knife?” he said.

“It’s going to be really hard to survive if it keeps going like this. If it continues, we will have to move.”

Mr Uruthirakumar said the shop had been targeted around four or five times, with items like sweets and chocolates swiped.

Police in Bradford South are investigating the matter and say they have spoken to the shop owners as part of continuing inquiries. Anyone with information is asked to contact the team on 101, quoting crime reference 13170351223.

The couple’s experience comes on the back of a wave of misery in the village. Crime-hit business owners in the Town Gate area of Wyke have made repeated calls for street cameras to be installed after a spate of crimes left them counting the cost.

Elsewhere, Wyke Community and Children’s Centre and charity Motive8 have fallen victim to vandals.

Motive8, which offers vocational courses for 16 to 19-year-olds at its base at the South Bradford Vocational Centre, Huddersfield Road, was broken into in mid-July.

It is thought those responsible got in through a window and caused damage to the beauty salon and fire doors.

Then last week, the charity was hit again.

Managing director Melissa Simpson said three youths are believed to have climbed onto the roof, before removing tiles in an attempt to get into the building.

While they didn’t manage to get in, Ms Simpson said the roof was left in a mess.

“It’s money we don’t have,” she said. “We have been shoring up the building, but what are we meant to do with the roof, other than put the tiles back?

“It’s like they are going to any means to get in. It seems like it’s ongoing.

“I think as a community, we need to come together and say ‘enough is enough’.

“How can we move forward?”

She said the vandalism was taking money away from young people, because it had to be put into the building instead.

“If it carries on, I don’t know where we will end up,” she said.

It is a similar story for Wyke Community and Children’s Centre, which is in the same complex as Motive8.

A spokesman for the centre said CCTV cameras were broken on Sunday evening, then on Tuesday evening items in the play area were damaged, by what the centre believed to be the same group of people.

The spokesman described the situation as “frustrating” and said: “Having to pay for new CCTV is denting what we can put back into the community.

“It’s a mindless crime – they have to think about the bigger picture.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “Police are investigating recent instances of criminal damage at this location and are making further inquiries in the area to identify those responsible.”

Anyone with information should contact the Bradford South Area Neighbourhood Team on 101, quoting crime reference 13170350633 or 13170354440.

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