THIEVES who failed to  break into a city shop  ensured they covered  their tracks by stealing a  CCTV camera.

Police are seeking witnesses following the incident at the Costcutter  store in Pinhoe Road.

The camera was stolen  and Detective Constable  Naomi Walker said witnesses will be vital as  there is little evidence to  identify those responsible at this stage.

She said, “We believe  the person or people responsible may have  wanted to break in but  were unsuccessful.

“Instead, the window  above the door was  smashed, someone  leaned in and stole the  CCTV camera.

“There are no witnesses at this stage so it is  impossible to issue a description of those who  may have been responsible. It’s quite a busy  area though and we are  hopeful that someone  will come forward.

“This camera was part  of a network so it may  now be of little value,  although the cost of replacing it will be high to  the shop owner.”

Ian Hannan, assistant  manager at the shop,  said: “I think whoever it  was tried to break into  the shop and wanted to  take a lot more than the  camera.

 “But when they  couldn’t get in they decided to break a panel  over the door and the  only thing within reach  was the camera.”

He confirmed that  there were few clues as  to who was responsible.

He said: “We can access the footage the camera recorded before it  was taken but you can’t  see anything. Everything looks normal and  then it goes black.

 “You don’t see who it  is that was taking it and,  although the camera was  linked to a network,  none of the others were  positioned to capture  anything.

“We’re just hoping  someone has seen something. It may have been  early in the morning but  it’s still a well-lit busy  road. There’s still a fair  bit of traffic around at  that time.”

Anyone who has any  information regarding  the incident, which happened at 12.50am yesterday, can  call  Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or  Exeter police on 08452  777444  quoting crime reference DE/10/912.