Fylde Council have adjusted the sweep of Fairhaven Lake’s CCTV cameras to deter further acts of vandalism and volunteers are to switch on floodlights and install their own CCTV at the site in the next few weeks. Parks staff and police will also patrol the area more frequently.

The collection box, made from a bomb, was damaged when troublemakers kicked the tailfins.

Coun Cheryl Little, Fylde Council’s cabinet member for social well-being, said: “This Spitfire is of national significance and it has all been paid for by public donation. It is a disgrace that someone has seen fit to damage the collection box in this way.

“The CCTV cameras and the added patrols should deter any further attacks. I’m also asking members of the public to let the police know if they see anything untoward – these yobs must not be allowed to get away with such dishonourable behaviour.”

Speaking last week, Spitfire memorial fund manager Lee Townsend called the yobs involved ‘cretins’ and ‘morons’.

He added: “This just epitomises the lack of respect for anything and anyone in society these days. These brainless cretins and morons have no respect for our war dead and no respect for this memorial.”

Footage shows the hooded raider walking into the Min-Kel store on Orrell Lane, Orrell, near Walton, on Sunday, April 14, swinging the axe at 38-years-old Michael Roue, and then running out of the shop.

The thief had told Michael to put the ****** money in the bag but he refused and instead grabbed a wooden pole, whereupon the intruder swung the axe, hitting the shopkeeper on the hand.

Michael, who lost a pint of blood in the attack, was taken by ambulance to Fazakerley hospital where doctors were unfortunately unable to reattach the severed part of his finger.

He later went to Whiston hospital where plastic surgery was carried out on his hand.

Michael said: “This person needs to be caught before he does some real damage. Imagine if he broke into a pensioner’s home? It took the doctors four to five hours to stop the bleeding. The axe cut right through to the bone.”

Police suspect the raider was aged in his late teens.

A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: “The offender threatened the man with an axe and inflicted serious injuries to the shop worker’s hand.”

The Roue family have owned Min-Kel – which is named after Michael’s grandmother Mary Kelly – for 35 years and Michael has been helping out in the shop since he was a schoolboy.The raid took place while Michael’s mum and dad were in the flat upstairs celebrating his sister’s birthday.

Two groups of men were involved in a fight at the bowling alley between 10.45pm and 11pm on that date, when two men were taken to hospital for treatment to minor facial injuries.

Police believe there were up to 14 men involved in the disturbance and they are anxious to trace the man captured on CCTV.

PC Leanne Aldridge said: “We are still keen to speak to anyone with information about this incident. It is important that we get all the information that we can and would like to appeal to anyone who was in the area at this time to come forward.

“There will have been people in and around the leisure park this night. I’m asking all these people to think back and see if they can remember anything that might be linked to this incident.

“Even small details are important, so if you do remember anything, please get in touch.

PC Aldridge can be contacted on 101 or anyone with information can also contact Crimestoppers, which is anonymous, on 0800 555 111.

It shows two men assaulting a 23-year-old man who was walking along Deans Court and Victoria Road in Bicester at 3.10am on May 6.

During the attack, in which he was repeatedly kicked, the victim lost consciousness but fortunately there was no lasting damage, apart from a broken hand.

The attackers are white, in their late twenties and both around 5ft 10ins. One was wearing a light-coloured polo shirt and the other was wearing a long-sleeved top with horizontal stripes on the left elbow and letters down the right sleeve.

It is believed that they may also have been involved in a dispute outside Gee’s wine bar in Market Square prior to the assault.

Investigating officer PC Abigail Sharman said: “This was a totally unprovoked attack on a young man and I urge anyone with information to get in touch. These types of incident are luckily very rare and so we want to bring these offenders to justice.”

Anyone with information can contact PC Sharman on 101.

People who prefer not to speak directly to the police can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and the informant will not go to court.

Now that footage has been released by Flying Squad detectives who say they would like to speak to those men caught on camera. They have also appealed to the public for any information they might have about the incident.

Detective Constable Johnny Baker, who is leading the investigation, asked anyone who was in the area and saw the incident to contact officers without delay.

The three men forced their way into the Carphone Warehouse in Hampstead High Street at about 6.11pm, when the shop was closing, and threatened a member of staff with a knife. Fortunately no one was injured, but the intimidation was sufficient to enable the thieves to make off with thousands of pounds worth of stock.

They made their getaway in a dark green Ford transit van and DC Baker said he was also particularly interested to speak to anyone who saw that vehicle being driven away from the scene of the crime.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Flying Squad on 020 8358 1752 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The £500 Samsung Galaxy S3 phone belonged to shopkeeper Abdullah Hussain and it had been bought for him as a Christmas present by his partner, but he said that it was the loss of the memory card rather than the phone itself which was so upsetting, because it contained treasured pictures of his family in the Yemen and of his six-year-old daughter.

He went on: “These things have sentimental value. You can replace a phone but you cannot replace such things as these.”

CCTV images captured at the News Extra store in St Chad’s Parade, Kirkby, last Saturday afternoon show a man in a blue jacket appearing to reach behind the shop counter.

Mr Hussain said it all happened very quickly. He had gone upstairs for a short time, leaving his phone behind the counter, assuming it would be safe, A female assistant was looking after the shop and the man waited until she was distracted by another customer before taking the phone.

Said Mr Hussain: “It was just so brazen and happened right in the middle of the shop with lots of people around. People should be aware how quickly this kind of thing can happen”

He has tried tracing the phone, but it is switched off.

Police are hoping that the CCTV footage will help to identify the thief.

That is what nervous bar staff at Exmouth Rugby Club are beginning to believe after the bell for last orders started ringing by itself.

They are convinced it is the spirit of Nigel Harris, a popular customer for 30 years, who is calling for time from beyond the grave.

CCTV cameras captured one incident in the clubhouse, but when the tape was rewound there was no evidence of a prank.

Barmaid Tasmyn Burns was serving pints on Sunday afternoon when the bell rang loudly, as if someone was yanking it with some force, but when she looked there was no-one there.

She said: ‘I don’t normally believe in ghosts but it’s quite hard not to after what happened. I have heard a few whispers of people saying it could be the spirit of Nigel. He was always in the bar and he did everything with the club. His picture is even hanging up in the lounge’.

Mr Harris, the club’s former secretary, died from a heart attack in 2010 after being involved with the rugby team for three decades. Bosses had planned to bestow an honorary lifetime membership on him but he died before they could do it.

The club’s events manager, Sue Stone, said that she had seen the video and it looked pretty genuine.

‘It is certainly very strange,’ she added.

Julian and Denise Brana have captured images of a blonde woman taking the clay figures from their garden on three occasions – but they want to know who the woman is and why she is stealing them.

After a pottery horse and bulldog were stolen during the night the couple, who have won awards for their home-made gnomes, recorded further thefts on their security system and took the footage to the police. It shows a blonde woman entering the garden and pass ornaments to an accomplice who was waiting at the gate.

However, three days later more gnomes, horses and figurines were taken from their hope in Barry, South Wales.

Mother-of-five Mrs Brana said: ‘I couldn’t believe the cheek of it. Our CCTV system caught her making a beeline for our lovely ornaments. She knew what she wanted. We are both upset she targeted our garden and we can’t believe she came back for more.’

The couple think the woman, described as short and chunky, walks past in the daylight to select the items she wants and then takes them during the night.

Many of the ornaments were made by Mrs Brana, who is an amateur potter. She said: ‘Over the years I’ve fired off hundreds, maybe thousands of figurines and statues. People admire them and we’ve had so many compliments over the years but I never thought some jealous individual would steal them from us.’

South Wales Police said they are investigating and examining the video footage.

CCTV cameras captured one typical incident outside a Michelin-starred restaurant where owner David Moore was sitting outside enjoying lunch with a colleague. Suddenly a thief grabbed a laptop from the table, ran off and escaped with the aid of an accomplice who was waiting nearby on a scooter.

Mr Moore said police had told him that they were dealing with around one incident a day in Marylebone alone involving snatches of iPads, laptops and mobile phones. They were not just snatching them off tables, but snatching them out of people’s hands.

He went on: “At the time I thought it was outrageous, but after it sunk in I thought about what could have happened if I had caught him. He could have been violent and been armed with a knife or even a gun.”

He added that the man was dressed in motorcyle gear, making it difficult to give any description of him.

The incident comes after the latest crime figures show a surge in the number of mobile street snatches in London, many by thieves on bikes and scooters, and diners have been warned to watch out.

There were a total of 49,265 thefts last year – a rise of 17 per cent – mostly of smart phones, bags and iPads. New figures show that computers and tablets top the list of items stolen in burglaries for the first time.

The van, which is operated jointly by Thames Valley Police and Milton Keynes Council, is a purpose-built vehicle that can capture images by itself or it can be connected to CCTV cameras on street lamp-posts.

It is estimated that the van cost more than £100,000, but it can capture images in high quality detail hundreds of yards away and its footage has been used in court convictions.

It was also used to good effect in the Milton Keynes riots in August 2011 and, according to one police officer, its ability to record evidence and act as a deterrent is vitally important.

PC Andy Perry, a neighbourhood supervisor at Newport Pagnell Police Station, said: “As an operational police officer, I think the mobile CCTV facility is a fantastic evidence gathering tool for the police.”

Detective Superintendent Barry Halliday, Local Police Area Commander for Milton Keynes, was just as enthusiastic. He said that the CCTV van was a great example of Thames Valley Police and their partners at Milton Keynes Council working together to make Milton Keynes a safer place to live, work and visit.

He went on: “We monitor the deployment of the CCTV van on a daily basis, sending it to areas where we see crime is on the increase and we have seen that when it is deployed, crime in that area reduces. It has a dual purpose of acting as a deterrent as well as having the potential to catch criminals in the act of committing a crime.”