THIEVES left a butchers shop empty handed after they were foiled by its security system.

The break-in at Artingsalls in Corsham High Street, occurred some time between Saturday evening and Monday morning while the shop was closed.

The thieves got into the butchers via a window in the flat above the shop. Once inside they smashed the burglar alarm, but left without taking anything.

When staff arrived for work on Monday morning they discovered the thieves had left fridge doors open and a few meat bones on the floor.

Manager Douglas Gray said he thought the thieves found they were blocked in by the shop's tough external doors and escaped as soon as they could.

He said: "They just came in and ripped the burglar alarm off the wall. There is a flat above the shop and they got in through one of the upstairs windows.

"It looks as if it was a matter of blind panic, they could not get out of the external doors.

"We really didn't lose anything monetary, but it is very inconvenient for small businesses to pay the £400 or £500 for a new alarm.

"One wonders why, if you are going to do a shop, you would target a butchers. We don't leave any cash in there over the weekend."