Armed robbers steal car

Thieves stole a car during a robbery in Rochdale.

Shortly after 1.30am on Wednesday 8 August 2012, two men repeatedly kicked the front door of a house on Kingsway, causing the glass to shatter.

The 37-year-old homeowner went down stairs and one of the men waved a meat cleaver through his letterbox and demanded the keys to his grey Subaru Impreza that was parked outside.

The man handed over his keys and the offenders drove off.

Within a minute of receiving the call from the address, responding officers located the car and following a short pursuit it was found abandoned nearby a short time later.

No one was hurt in the incident.

Detective Inspector Andrew Butterworth, from the CID, said: "The offenders were armed with a meat cleaver and made a concerted effort to get into the address.

"Faced with this situation the occupant did exactly the right thing and gave them the keys to his car and thanks to the rapid response of our officers we have now recovered the vehicle.

"In Rochdale and across GMP, we work hard to identify and bring to justice those involved in serious acquisitive crime - such as burglary and robbery - and we have launched an investigation to try and identify these offenders and if anyone has any information I would urge them to get in touch.

"I would like to reiterate that incidents like these are rare and the public in Rochdale can be assured that as a force we saw a 14 per cent drop in burglary and robbery across the region last year."

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call police on 0161 856 4646, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.