A MAN wearing a balaclava walked in through the front door of a Haverfordwest indoor children’s activity centre, vaulted over the counter and ran away with the till.

The unknown male targeted the Lion’s Den on Snowdrop Lane at some point between 4.30pm and 5.20pm on Thursday, December 4.

The black, Sharp brand till contained £150.

It is thought the burglar made off on foot towards the direction of Scarrowscant Lane.

“I think it’s shocking that someone could do this to a children’s play centre,” said Lion’s Den joint owner and manager Hayley Thomas. “We have CCTV everywhere, so we caught him on film. Luckily, no-one was in the till area at the time. He just came in, jumped over the counter, unplugged the till and took the whole thing.

“I don’t know what I would have done if I had been there when he did it. It would probably have given me nightmares.”

Following the burglary, Hayley and Lion’s Den co-owner Mike Mathias went out looking for the till with torches. They found a receipt Hayley recognised and ended up searching the marshland behind Pembrokeshire College.

When they checked the area in the morning, they found the till. It has now been sent off for forensic analysis to check for fingerprints.

“It wasn’t a lot of money, but I don’t want people thinking they can just walk in to a place and take what they want,” said Mike. “I was told there was a 90% chance of the Police being able to get prints off the till. Clearly, the person who did this either has a lot of nerve, or is very, very desperate.”

The Lion’s Den has taken measures to ensure a burglary like this can’t happen again.

“We would really like to see this person caught,” said Hayley.

A police spokeswoman said the crime was being actively investigated.

Anyone with information regarding the burglary is asked to contact Haverfordwest Police Station by calling 101.