A £5,000 price has been put on the heads of criminals who assaulted and robbed a Lichfield pub landlord and her partner.
Crime-fighting charity, Crimestoppers, is offering the cash reward for information which leads to a conviction.
The latest move comes just over a month after two offenders attacked landlady Tracey Bradley, and her partner, James Hanlon, at their pub, the Duke of Wellington, on Birmingham Road, Lichfield.
The attack happened at around 8.30am on December 7 as Mr Hanlon opened the pub’s back door to take their dog for a walk. He was bundled back into the premises and both he and his partner were assaulted.
Although badly shocked, neither was seriously injured, but the attackers fled with a substantial amount of cash.
Detective Constable Tessa Crabb of Trent Valley CID said:
“This was a very frightening incident which left the two victims badly shocked but thankfully, not seriously injured. We are hoping the offer of substantial cash reward through Crimestoppers will encourage anyone with information to come forward and give us the break through we need to bring these violent offenders to justice.”
Police think early morning commuters could hold the key to identifying the two men because the pub is on the busy Birmingham Road which was packed with commuter traffic at the time of the early morning incident.
DC Crabb added:
“The two offenders may have been hanging around the pub at a similar time on previous days and we would ask people who use that road regularly to think whether they saw anyone in the area or any suspicious vehicles near the pub between 8am and 9am.”
The two offenders wore masks but one is though to be black or mixed race. The other was white. They are thought to have Birmingham accents and police are widening their appeal for information from anyone in the Birmingham area who may be able to name them.
DC Crabb also stressed that Crimestoppers never trace or record callsed or revealed a callers’ details to police and no personal details of the caller are taken and had a system in place to ensure rewards were paid out with guaranteed anonymity. Callers are given a special Crimestoppers reward code which, if arrests and convictions follow, can be used to arrange an anonymous payment. Rewards can only be claimed by calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.