THE owner of T's hairdressers in Wollescote has been left in disbelief after her salon was raided and trashed while she remains at home unable to work due to lockdown.

Catherine Jones says she has taken some comfort from "all the lovely messages" and offers of help she has received since the Queensway salon was raided on Tuesday (November 17).

But she has described the offender, who struck at around 4.15am, as a "scumbag".

She said: "We are the only shop along the Queensway being forced to shut and to find that we’ve been robbed like this makes me so angry."

The offender, who was captured on CCTV, made off with an array of hair accessories and equipment at around 5.15am.

Items taken include: hairdryers, straighteners, various pairs of men’s clippers with grades, scissors, brushes, hair products, boxed NXT colours, a TV (with possible damage at the back as it was ripped off the wall), and a distinctive handmade red leather laptop bag.

Catherine said cash from the salon was also stolen in the raid plus money from two cancer charity collection boxes totalling £300 to £400.

She said it was "just horrible this happened" and accused the offender of destroying what she had left - having struck while she and and her staff have been unable to work during the national coronavirus lockdown which has forced non-essential shops and businesses to shut their doors until December 2.

Catherine, who took over the salon after her mum Tracy passed away from cancer five years ago, said 2020 had already proven tough enough – with two lockdowns, the postponement of her wedding and now the break-in which has left her needing equipment and products to be able to re-open in two weeks time if restrictions are lifted in Dudley.

She is now urging people to keep an eye out for any of the missing items and asking people to check their CCTV and doorbell footage from the time of the raid to help with police enquiries.

Anyone with information or video footage is urged to contact police via Live Chat on the West Midlands Police website or call 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111, and quote crime reference number 20DY/283329G/20.